The desire to fly has never gone away from him either 90 years old but it was fatal to his life: William Andersretired major general and former astronaut of‘Apollo 8 died in a plane crash in the San Juan Islands, off the coast of Washington State, as his family informed the CNN. From initial information he was flying a Beechcraft AA45, also known as the T-34, a turboprop described as a “old model” which fell into the sea due to problems still being investigated by the American authorities. In addition to his contribution as an astronaut, Anders will be remembered above all for the memorable shot that ended up in all the history books of the “Rising earth” seen from Space, in English called “Earthrise”.
The photo that made history
As mentioned, his photo was also the first in which the Earth was seen in color with the blue of its oceans and the white of the clouds, a perfect shot in terms of beauty and meaning. Anders only participated in the Apollo 8 mission together with the other two astronauts, Frank Borman and James Lovell, with whom he went around the Moon for the first time, also seeing its “hidden” side, invisible from our planet. “We came all this way to explore the Moon, and the most important thing is that we discovered the Earth“, Anders said at the time. The photo on later defined “legendary” from NASA which recalls the moment in which it was taken, when the crew was busy capturing images of the lunar surface to carry out subsequent geological analyses. “Suddenly I looked out the window, and here was this beautiful sphere approaching” Anders said about Earth.
Apollo 8 was of fundamental importance in paving the way for the Moon landing which occurred with Apollo 11. William Anders was born on October 17, 1933 in Hong Kong: after graduating from the United States Naval Academy in 1955, he became a pilot the following year working as a fighter pilot in the Air Defense Command’s all-weather intercept squadrons in California and Iceland. As reported in the NASA biography, when Anders worked at the Air Force Weapons Laboratory in New Mexico, he was responsible for managing nuclear reactor shielding and radiation effects programs. The mission Apollo 8 it was launched on 21 December 1968 with the aim, as mentioned, of orbiting the Moon, paving the way for Apollo 11 the following year: Anders took care of the lunar module
The memory of NASA
A moving and meaningful memory has arrived https://twitter.com/SenBillNelson/status/1799246936937300465/photo/1 also by the NASA administrator, Bill Nelsonremembering that Anders personified the objectives of the exploration 100%.
“In 1968, during Apollo 8, Bill Anders gave humanity one of the most profound gifts an astronaut can give. He traveled to the edge of the Moon and helped us all see something else: ourselves. He embodied the lessons and purpose of exploration. We will miss him.”
