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I am listening to the book Rocket Men by Robert Kurson, and 22 minutes in to the epilogue, the author says the following:

Weeks after the return of Apollo 8, Frank Borman went to work pumping gas at a local Gulf service station in Webster, Texas. He did it for free, along with his two sons, in exchange for use of the station's garage bay and lift where the Bormans could work on their cars.

A cursory Google search does not find any source to back this up. I would like to believe the author did not make this up, is there any source that can confirm this?

The blurb on Audible says that story draws from one on one interviews with the astronauts and their families, but it does not look like these interviews were done by the author himself.

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  • $\begingroup$ I realise this might be on the fringes of what is considered on-topic for this site, but it does relate to the biography of an astronaut. I was torn between posting it here or on the sceptics site, but I suspect there will be more users with the appropriate domain knowledge needed to answer this question here. $\endgroup$
    – Morgoth
    Commented Apr 7, 2021 at 20:22
  • $\begingroup$ It seems unlikely, although I can't find anything that would remotely confirm that... I suspect if anything it was for a very short period of time, like a few weeks... $\endgroup$
    – PearsonArtPhoto ♦
    Commented Apr 7, 2021 at 20:33
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    $\begingroup$ Apollo 8 landed at the end of 1968. Borman was in the NASA and the Air Force receiving a salary until 1970, and then he went to work for Eastern Air Lines. This is just a way of saying that Borman did some work for the gas station guy in exchange for using the machinery. It does not mean that that was his actual employment. Nothing to see here. $\endgroup$
    – Organic Marble
    Commented Apr 7, 2021 at 20:49
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    $\begingroup$ Perhaps some insight can be found in "... along with his two sons..." which makes me wonder if they did most of the gas pumping while the senior Borman made only a few "guest appearances" :-) I was going to let you know of the existence of Skeptics SE but then checked your profile. This question seems like a good candidate for asking there. $\endgroup$
    – uhoh
    Commented Apr 7, 2021 at 22:21
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    $\begingroup$ It's certainly plausible given the well-known love of cars by astronauts, particularly an astronaut with two teenage sons, ages seventeen and fifteen. That was a different era. I'm just a few years younger than Borman's younger son, and I learned to drive a car when I was thirteen. $\endgroup$
    – David Hammen
    Commented Apr 9, 2021 at 7:13

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