William Anders who took Apollo 8 Earthrise photo dies in plane crash

[gary]

8 Jun 2024

Story here :-
https://www.theguardian.com/science/...am-anders-dead

[Startrek (Martin)]

Sad to hear another Apollo astronaut passes on
A rookie astronaut but really smart competent member of an elite group.
Even though he probably maintained his flying status ?? , at 90 years of age , surely it’s a big risk, then again he died whilst doing what he loved doing all of his life.
It’s always been an ongoing issue with Jim Lovell as to who took the first earth rise photo. Lovell has never publicly confirmed without any doubt that Anders took the photo, he tended to beat around the bush saying that Anders keeps saying he did so maybe he did.
RIP
William Anders

[Crater101 (Warren)]

Sad to hear that another one of the pioneers has gone, but as was said, he went doing something he loved doing. Vale.

[Peter Ward]

The video of the plane crash was on the late news last night... But, you know,
as a fellow aviator, I suspect he may have blacked out in the loop...with his last thoughts of pulling the stick back with the sheer joy of seeing nothing but blue sky above.

Still flying at 90. Wow. I could think of far worse ways to finally check out.

RIP Bill.

[ChrisD (Chris)]

I'm no expert, but from the short video available of the accident it looks like he half rolled and attempted a split S. Stick inputs were consistent throughout, wings level and a constant pitch rate. Engine running until impact. It looked under pilot control. The aircraft skipped across the water indicating a relatively flat angle to the surface at impact. If he had of entered the manoeuvre 100 ft higher ...

Sad indeed. I remember watching their broadcast from lunar orbit, Christmas 1968. A true Hero in every sense of the word.

Chris

[gpretty2 (Graeme)]

Aw man sad news