Apollo 8 astronaut dies in small plane crash at age 90
The Peninsula
Washington: William Anders, the former US astronaut who took the historic Earthrise photo from space over 55 years ago, died in a plane crash on Fri...
Washington: 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.