Slayton still wanted Borman for the two-week flight , which had now slipped to Gemini 7 , so Borman was assigned as backup commander of Gemini 4 , with Jim Lovell as his co-pilot . This was officially announced on July 27 , 1964 , and their assignment to Gemini 7 followed on July 1 , 1965 , with Ed White and Michael Collins as their backups . Borman was one of four of the Nine chosen to command their first Gemini missions , the others being McDivitt , Neil Armstrong , and Elliot See , although See was killed in a jet crash three months before his mission . Prime and backup crews trained for the mission together , and Borman found the experience as a backup valuable , amounting to a dress rehearsal of their own mission
jet crash
1966 NASA T-38 crash
Frank Borman