The author of the legendary “Earthrise” photograph was killed in a plane crash in the San Juan Islands, at the northwest tip of the United States, his son announced.
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He was part of the Apollo 8 mission, the first to orbit the Moon. American astronaut William Anders died on Friday June 7 at the age of 90, his son announced to CNN. “My father died in a plane crash in the San Juan Islands”at the northwest tip of the United States, Gregory Anders explained to the American television channel.
William Anders marked space exploration with an emblematic photo, the The earthworm, taken during the Apollo 8 mission, during which he traveled with two other astronauts, Frank Borman and James Lovell. In this photograph from Christmas Eve 1968, the blue planet stands out from the darkness, with the lunar surface in the foreground.
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“He traveled to the edge of the Moon and helped us all see something else: ourselves”, greeted NASA administrator Bill Nelson on the social network William Anders “forever changed our view of our planet and ourselves with his famous photo (…) He inspired me, as well as generations of astronauts”, for his part reacted former NASA astronaut and American senator Mark Kelly. Before becoming an astronaut, William Anders served as a fighter pilot in the United States Army.
Local authorities announced Friday that an older model plane had crashed late in the morning near the coast of one of the San Juan Islands, in the US state of Washington. An investigation has been opened to determine the circumstances of this accident. County sheriff Eric Peter told AFP that teams were searching the area but had not yet found any bodies.
