WASHINGTON, June 8, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - William Anders, the former US astronaut
who took the historic "Earthrise" photo from space over 55 years ago, died in
a plane crash on Friday at the age of 90, his family said.

Anders had been piloting a small plane which crashed off the coast of
Washington state on Friday morning, his son told US media. Anders was alone
in the plane.

Sheriff Eric Peter told AFP that teams were searching the area, but had not
yet found a body.

A member of the Apollo 8 mission in December 1968, Anders became one of the
first humans to reach the Moon, along with fellow Americans Frank Borman and
James Lovell.

The crew orbited the Moon ten times without landing, before successfully
returning to Earth on December 27, 1968.

On one of the lunar orbits, Anders captured a photo of the bright blue Earth
against the vast darkness of space, with the Moon's cratered surface in the
foreground.

The "Earthrise" photo is frequently listed in roundups of key historical
images, and was included in Life Magazine's book "100 Photographs that
Changed The World."

An original version of the photo sold at a Copenhagen auction in 2022 for
11,800 euros.

"In 1968, during Apollo 8, Bill Anders offered to humanity among the deepest
of gifts an astronaut can give," NASA chief Bill Nelson wrote on social media
platform X.

"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," Nelson added.

Born October 17, 1933, in Hong Kong, Anders graduated from the US Naval
Academy and later earned a masters degree in nuclear engineering.

After his time as an astronaut, Anders later held various technology-related
government positions, notably becoming the first chairman of the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission and later serving as the US ambassador to Norway.

In the early 1990s, he headed up the US defense and aerospace company General
Dynamics as CEO and chairman, before retiring.

Of the Apollo 8 members, only Lovell is still alive.

Borman died in November 2023 at the age of 95.

Lovell, 96, was also a member of the Apollo 13 mission that was meant to land
on the Moon, but experienced a near-catastrophe that was later made into a
Hollywood film.

The last time humans set foot on the Moon was in 1972 during the Apollo 17
mission, but NASA has set its sights on sending new astronauts, including the
first woman and person of color, in the coming years.