Apollo 8 astronaut died in a plane crash
NASA astronaut William Anders died in a plane crash. The tragic crash took place in Washington's San Juan Islands on Friday (June 7). News CNN.
Anders' son, Gregory Anders, said: "We are devastated by the news and saddened by the loss of a great aviator. William Anders was a member of the Apollo 8 spacecraft in 1968. He was 90 years old at the time of his death.
A plane crashed off the coast of Jones Island. Around 11:40 a.m. local time, their dispatch center received an initial report that an older model aircraft was flying north-south, then crashed into water near the north end of Jones Island.
The body of William Anders was recovered after a search by various rescue agencies, the US Coast Guard said.
William Anders was born on October 17, 1933 in Hong Kong. He was commissioned in the Navy in 1955 after graduating from the United States Naval Academy.
Anders also served as a fighter pilot in the Air Defense Command's All-Weather Interception Squadron in California and Iceland, the US Naval Academy said.
While at the Air Force Weapons Laboratory in New Mexico, Anders was in charge of managing nuclear power reactor safety and radiation effects programs, according to his biography at NASA.
Anders was selected as a NASA astronaut in 1964 and served as backup pilot for the Gemini-11 mission in 1966 and the Apollo-11 flight in 1969.
From space, Anders took an iconic image of the moon's surface in front of Earth during the Apollo 8 flight on Christmas Eve 1968, entitled 'Arthurise'.
