The Apollo 8 crew member, William Anders, was one of the first three people to orbit the moon. He sadly died in a plane crash in Washington state on Friday, his son has confirmed.
The NASA astronaut took the iconic Earthrise photo, which showed the sun glistening on top of Earth, during the mission. It sparked change in how we see our planet and the global movement to protect the environment.
William’s son, Gregory Anders, said: “[My] dad passes in an aircraft in the San Juan Islands. The family is devastated and grieving the loss of a great pilot.”
The San Juan dispatch center received a report around 11.40am PT of an ‘older model plane flying from north to south that went into the water near the north end of Jones Island and sunk’, according to the sheriff’s office.
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The pilot’s body was recovered by a dive team after a search involving multiple agencies, covering 215 nautical miles, the United States Coast Guard said. The islands are approximately 90 miles off the north coast of Seattle.
William Anders graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1955 and earned his wings the following year after being commissioned in the US Air Force. Born on October 17, 1933, in Hong Kong, the astronaut passed away at 90 years old.
He worked as a fighter pilot in interception squadrons for the Air Defense Command in California and Iceland.
Anders was also responsible for managing nuclear power reactor shielding and radiation effects programs while at the Air Force Weapons Laboratory in New Mexico, NASA says.
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William Anders ‘discovered Earth’ in iconic photo
He logged more than 6,000 hours of flight time and was picked as an astronaut by the space agency in 1964. William Anders served as a backup pilot for the Gemini 11 mission two years later, and the Apollo 11 mission in 1969.
Anders, alongside Jim Lovell and mission commander Frank Borman, flew on the first lunar orbit mission, circling the moon, in 1968 on Apollo 8. Borman passed away in November 2023.
Anders captured the iconic photo of Earth on the historic flight, while serving as the lunar module pilot. It shows the moon’s surface in the foreground of the picture, and is took it on Christmas Eve in 1968, calling it Earthrise.
He famously said: “We came all this way to explore the moon, and the most important thing is that we discovered Earth”.
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The picture was called ‘legendary’ by NASA in a video tribute they posted for the astronaut on Friday. He took the photograph while the crew snapped images of the surface of the moon for geologic analysis.
He said: “Suddenly I looked out the window, and here was this gorgeous orb coming up.
“For me, it made me realize that the Earth was small, delicate and not the center of the universe”.
That same year, Time Magazine recognized the three space men as ‘Men of the Year’.
Following the mission, William Anders worked as Executive Secretary for the National Aeronautics and Space Council for four years. He was named as the first chairman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission by President Gerald Ford, which is a role who manages nuclear safety and environmental compatibility.
Bill Nelson, NASA administrator, said: “Bill Anders offered to humanity among the deepest gifts an astronaut can give.
“He traveled to the threshold of the Moon and helped all of us see something else: ourselves.
“He embodied the lessons and the purpose of exploration. We will miss him”.
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