US astronaut William Anders killed in plane crash – DW – 08.06.2024

American astronaut William Anders, a member of the Apollo 8 crew, died in a plane crash on Friday, his son Greg Anders told the Associated Press.

The 90-year-old was piloting a small plane alone when it crashed into the waters of the San Juan Islands in Washington state.

He is known for the iconic 1968 “Earthrise” photograph, which shows the planet from space as a shadowy blue marble.

What do we know about the crash?

Footage has been shared on social media purporting to show the plane plummeting from the sky in a steep dive before hitting the water.

The San Juan County Sheriff’s Office said it received a call around 11:40 a.m. (8:40 p.m. CEST) that “an older model aircraft was flying north-south, then crashed into the water and sank.”

According to the Federal Aviation Association, only the pilot, presumably Anders, was on board the Beech A45 aircraft at the time.

The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration investigated the crash.

“Earthrise” photo sparked environmental movement

The Earthrise photograph was the first color image of the Earth taken from space and is considered one of the most famous images in modern history.

“Bill Anders forever changed the way we view our planet and ourselves,” Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, who is also a retired NASA astronaut, wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson paid tribute to Anders, saying he “traveled to the threshold of the moon and helped us all see something else: ourselves.”

Anders himself said that the photo was his most significant contribution to the space program.

“We were going backwards and upside down, couldn’t really see the Earth or the Sun, and when we turned around and came around, we saw the first Earthrise,” he said.

He also reported that from space, the Earth looks fragile and seemingly physically insignificant, and yet it is our home.

“That was certainly the most impressive thing by far. Seeing this very delicate, colorful ball, which looked to me like a Christmas tree decoration, rising above this very barren, ugly lunar landscape was a real contrast.”

The photo is considered to have sparked the global environmental movement because it shows how sensitive and isolated the Earth appears from space.

km/h (AP, Reuters)