BO CUNNINGHAM, Command module pilot, Apollo 18 At various times Barton “Bo” Cunningham (b. 1943) has been one of the most respected pilots in the NASA astronaut corps and one of its most infamous. An early, celebrated career as a test pilot together with a reputation for intellectual agility landed Cunningham at NASA in 1962 along with fellow class member Ed Lovett. Lovett often credited Cunningham with saving his life during their 1965 Gemini mission, during which Cunningham

ED LOVETT, Commander, Apollo 18 Edward Stanford Lovett (1933–1973) was born in Hyde Park, New York, to the prominent New York Lovetts, an illustrious family in the political history of the State of New York during the 20th century. After declining to follow both his father and grandfather in elected office, Lovett enlisted in the United States Air Force, eventually flying combat missions in the Korean War. Recruited by NASA in 1962, Lovett flew two Gemini missions, both as Co

AL BORDEN, Lunar Module Pilot, Apollo 18 Albert Robert Borden (1938-1973) grew up in Monterey, California, and attended the University of Southern California, where his boyish enthusiasm and brilliant mind resulted in a doctoral degree in geology faster than anyone in USC academic history. Borden’s research in Antarctica meteorites caught NASA’s attention and in 1969 he was inducted into the NASA astronaut corps. Borden rapidly gained national fame as the “darling astronaut o

SANDY CUNNINGHAM-BATES, Sister of Bo Cunningham Sandra “Sandy” Cunningham-Bates (b. 1947) was raised with her only sibling, Bo Cunningham, in Long Grove, Illinois. A mathematics prodigy, Ms. Cunningham was recruited by Massachusetts Institute of Technology mathematician Norman Levinson to assist in his work on Fourier transforms, but declined the offer and after graduating from high school remained in Illinois, where she continues to reside today.

Mrs. JOAN LOVETT, Wife of Ed Lovett Joan Joyce Lovett (b. 1936) has described her first encounter with future husband Ed Lovett as “fate.” While on a Hudson River boating trip with classmates from Rutgers University, then-Joan Hampton was involved in an accident that resulted in her group running aground on the shore of the Lovett family estate in Hyde Park, New York. According to Ms. Lovett, a young Ed Lovett watched the mishap from the beach and then led the rescue of the s

PETER PELLARIN, U.S. Congressman, retired Peter “Pete” Pellarin (b. 1934) ran for public office first in 1968 when he was elected to the Boston City Council. Pellarin ran a campaign in which he aggressively targeted the Boston Corporation Counsel’s office for what Pellarin felt was the over-zealous prosecution of his father on charges of tax fraud related to the family’s used car dealership. Rumors surrounding Pellarin’s personal life contributed to his failure to be reelecte

MICHAEL RUSSO, FBI Agent, Retired Michael “Mike” Anthony Russo (b. 1940) began his long career at the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1971. In 1973 he was appointed by then-director William Ruckelshaus to lead the investigation into the Apollo 18 incident. Continuing the inquiry under Clarence Kelley, Russo developed the most incendiary evidence in the case, evidence some believe to have been hidden by the President’s commission - an investigation that drew a

KATE PARRISH-BORDEN, Wife of Al Borden In 1968, drawn by the countercultural currents of the 1960s, Katherine “Kate” Parrish-Borden (b. 1950) moved from her home in Virginia to the west coast of Florida, where she lived among the so-called “Cocoa Creatures,” an itinerant commune located at various times in Daytona, Melbourne, and Cocoa Beach. It was in Cocoa Beach that Parrish met Al Borden, then training for his as-yet unassigned Apollo mission. Parrish and Borden wed in 197

FREDERICK CALDER - NASA Flight Director Frederick Arthur Calder (b. 1933) traveled an unusual road to his storied career as a NASA flight director. After completing a masters in physics at Cornell University, Calder was graduated from Harvard Law School in 1959. Calder subsequently joined legendary New York law firm Phillips, Nizer, Benjamin, Krim & Ballon. Amid rumors that Calder had ghost-written significant passages of Louis Nizer’s well-known memoir, My Life in Court, Cal

Twenty-five years after the return of Apollo 18, filmmakers David Dodson and Mark Dodson (in first and second photographs) sat down with those most intimately connected to a tragedy that will forever be associated with the end of America's manned exploration of the moon. Anticipating resistance from the mission's only surviving astronaut, Barton Cunningham (seen at his home in Colorado), the Dodsons were surprised to find Cunningham eager to speak about events many have prefe