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William “Bill” Anders, the Apollo 8 lunar module pilot who took the “Earthrise” photograph on December 24, 1968, died on June 7, 2024, at age 90 in the San Juan Islands of Washington state. NASA’s memorial statement records the date, place and age. The Associated Press reports that Anders was piloting the aircraft alone when it crashed into waters off the islands. The sources consulted do not establish a cause for the crash.
Anders’s role on Apollo 8
Anders was not the commander of Apollo 8. He was the lunar module pilot on the mission, which NASA describes as the first crewed launch of the Saturn V and the first crewed mission to orbit the Moon. Frank Borman commanded the flight and Jim Lovell was the other crew member. Together the three men became the first humans to orbit the Moon. NASA’s Apollo 8 mission page sets out the mission’s firsts.
Anders’s path to that seat began in 1964, when NASA selected him as an astronaut. He served as backup pilot for Gemini XI and for Apollo 11 before flying Apollo 8. NASA’s June 8, 2024 memorial statement covers this career sequence.
The Earthrise photograph
Apollo 8 launched on December 21, 1968. By December 24 the spacecraft was in lunar orbit, and Anders took the image that became known as “Earthrise.” NASA describes it as Earth rising above the Moon’s horizon. The agency’s own image article explains that the photograph was made by Anders during the orbital flight and records the Apollo 8 crew as the first humans to witness that scene. NASA’s “Earthrise” image article, published June 10, 2024, is the primary source for those details.
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The timeline below separates the milestones in Anders’s career and the photograph from the reports of his death.
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1964 | NASA selects Anders as an astronaut | NASA memorial statement, June 8, 2024 |
| Not stated (before Apollo 8) | Backup pilot for Gemini XI and for Apollo 11 | NASA memorial statement, June 8, 2024 |
| December 21, 1968 | Apollo 8 launches | NASA Apollo 8 mission page |
| December 24, 1968 | Anders takes the “Earthrise” photograph while Apollo 8 is in lunar orbit | NASA image article, June 10, 2024 |
| June 7, 2024 | Anders dies in the San Juan Islands, Washington, at age 90 | NASA memorial statement, June 8, 2024 |
| June 7, 2024 | Aircraft Anders was piloting alone crashes into waters off the islands | Associated Press, June 8, 2024 |
What Anders said about the mission and the photograph
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson’s June 8, 2024 memorial statement quotes Anders reflecting on the flight: “We came all this way to explore the Moon, and the most important thing is that we discovered the Earth.” The quotation is attributed to Anders through Nelson’s statement; it was not presented in that statement as a newly recorded interview. The same statement describes the photograph as “the Earth suspended in space, illuminated in light and hidden in darkness.”
The Associated Press separately reports that Anders regarded the photograph, along with making sure the Apollo 8 command and service modules worked, as among his most significant contributions to the space program. Those two statements come from different sources and should be read as such: the first is Nelson’s account of Anders’s words, and the second is AP’s account of Anders’s own view of his work.
The circumstances of his death
NASA’s memorial statement records that Anders died on June 7, 2024, in the San Juan Islands of Washington state, at age 90. The AP report, headlined as a plane crash in Washington, states that Anders was flying the aircraft alone when it crashed into waters off the islands. Neither source gives a cause for the crash, and this article does not offer one.
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What the sources do not establish
- The sources cited here do not give a numerical measure of Earthrise’s cultural influence, and this article does not offer one.
- Neither NASA nor AP attributes environmental or social change to the photograph alone. Any discussion of the image’s public impact should name the source making the claim.
- No cause of the June 2024 crash is stated in the NASA or AP material.
For readers who want to follow the Apollo 8 story further, NASA’s primary pages on the mission and the photograph are the most reliable starting points, since they are the sources named above.
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