Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders has passed away in a plane crash at age 90. It seems he was piloting the plane himself and was the only person on board as the aircraft fell into the waters offshore from Jones Island, Washington. The circumstances that caused the crash are still unknown.
Anders is best known for taking the AMAZING photo called 'Earthrising' as the planet Earth looked like a tiny blue marble as Apollo 8 moved further away from Earth. Anders was said to regard that photo as the most significant contribution he made throughout his entire career as an astronaut.
William Anders lived a long and ICONIC life. His family said he was a great pilot and will be missed.
BREAKING: Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders' plane crashes northwest of Seattle. Search and rescue underway pic.twitter.com/f0tCZ6rMLh
— BNO News (@BNONews) June 7, 2024
🚨#BREAKING: Former NASA astronaut William Anders who took the famous Earthrise photo during Apollo 8 has died from a plane crash accident
— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) June 8, 2024
⁰📌#Seattle | #Washington
Watch terrifying footage from earlier this evening as witnesses captured the moment a small T-34 Mentor plane… pic.twitter.com/xF2i8arA0u
Many on X had condolences. One of the most notable was Arizona Senator Mark Kelly.
Bill Anders forever changed our perspective of our planet and ourselves with his famous Earthrise photo on Apollo 8. He inspired me and generations of astronauts and explorers. My thoughts are with his family and friends. https://t.co/duYdSbSZ0C
— Senator Mark Kelly (@SenMarkKelly) June 8, 2024
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Beautiful sentiments from a fellow astronaut. Anders indeed changed the perspective of how we viewed the Earth and it is STILL an inspiring photo.
RIP to a legend. Thank you for giving us this picture of Earthrise! pic.twitter.com/4KdN4qLzEm
— Dark Web Informer (@DarkWebInformer) June 8, 2024
Go out doing what you love....☝️
— Johnny Reno (@JohnnyReno) June 7, 2024
WE LOVED THE LOVE Anders was getting. Scattered throughout the kind and thankful posts were the 'moon deniers' that said the photo was fake. We are not going to include any of those in this piece because it is ridiculous, we only mention it so you will not think we are blind if you go and look at the comments on your own.
The Right stuff 90 years old what a life https://t.co/UAE9d42Kun
— Market Rebellion (@MarketRebels) June 7, 2024
What a life indeed! Some people never make it out of the town they grew up in, Anders made it off the planet!
This is so sad.
— Sugabelly 🌕 (@sugabelly) June 8, 2024
Someone who went to the Moon.
Someone who photographed the Earth from the Moon.
It's so sad that he went this way, but at 90, with all his achievements, it's still a huge celebration of a momentous life.
Rest in Peace, Sir. https://t.co/CF0bUfuvKJ
Any death is sad but on the bright side, it seems Anders lived a long and happy life and as one of the posts above stated, died doing something he loved, FLYING! We hope Anders had the chance to see that earth as a tiny blue marble as he went to heaven and said goodbye to this world. We can only hope to live a life of such impact and beauty.
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