Former Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders died in a aircraft crash close to Seattle late Friday on the age of 90, in accordance with media stories.
Anders’ demise was confirmed by his son, Gregory Anders, who advised CNN his “dad passed in an aircraft incident in the San Juan Islands,” in Washington state, CNN reported.
“The family is devastated and grieving the loss of a great pilot,” Gregory Anders stated.
The incident occurred off the coast of Jones Island, in accordance with the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office, stated CNN.
The dispatch middle acquired a report round 11.40 a.m. (1840GMT) in regards to the older mannequin aircraft flying southward earlier than it went down into the water close to the north finish of Jones Island and sank, the workplace added.
The US Coast Guard additionally introduced that it performed a search spanning 215 nautical miles (398 kilometers), finally recovering the pilot’s physique with the assistance of a dive staff.
– Who is William Anders?
William Anders was born on Oct. 17, 1933, in Hong Kong, graduating from the US Naval Academy in 1955, the place he earned his pilot’s wings the next 12 months after being commissioned within the US Air Force.
He served as a fighter pilot in California and Iceland and managed nuclear energy reactor shielding and radiation results packages on the Air Force Weapons Laboratory in New Mexico, in accordance with NASA.
Selected by NASA as an astronaut in 1964, Anders was a backup pilot for the Gemini 11 mission and the Apollo 11 flight, logging over 6,000 hours of flying time.
In December 1968, he orbited the moon aboard the Apollo 8 mission with Jim Lovell and Frank Borman, capturing the long-lasting “Earthrise” photograph, which he described as a pivotal second in human historical past. “We came all this way to explore the moon, and the most important thing is that we discovered the Earth,” he had stated.
Beyond his house missions, Anders served as government secretary for the National Aeronautics and Space Council in 1969-1973 and was appointed the primary chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission by President Gerald Ford.
Anders is survived by his spouse, two daughters, and 4 sons.
Source: www.anews.com.tr