Taken aboard Apollo 8 by Bill Anders, this iconic picture
shows Earth peeking out from beyond the lunar surface
as the first crewed spacecraft circumnavigated the Moon,
with astronauts Anders, Frank Borman, and Jim Lovell
aboard. (Willian Anders/NASA)
FRIDAY HARBOR, Wash. (AP) — Retired Maj. Gen. William
Anders, the former Apollo 8 astronaut who took the iconic
“Earthrise” photo showing the planet as a shadowed blue
marble from space in 1968, was killed Friday when the plane
he was piloting alone plummeted into the waters off the San
Juan Islands in Washington state. He was 90.
The crew of Apollo 8, as seen during training before their
launch on Dec. 21, 1968.
William Alison Anders
(October 17, 1933 – June 7, 2024)