Former LG Resident and Apollo 8 Astronaut, William Anders, Who Took Famous Picture of Earth, Killed in Small Plane Crash

Apollo 8 astronaut William “Bill” Anders died in a plane crash in Washington state on Friday. The former La Grange resident was most famous for capturing the “Earthrise” photo while orbiting the moon in 1968. He was 90 years old.

According to a press release from the Sheriff’s Office of San Juan County, Wash., a plane crashed off the coast of Jones Island shortly before noon on Friday, June 7. The astronaut’s son, Greg Anders, told multiple news outlets that his father was the pilot of that plane. No one else was onboard. The plane was a vintage Air Force T-34 Mentor

William Alison “Bill” Anders was the son of U.S. Navy Commander and Mrs. Arthur F. “Tex” Anders and nephew of E.F. “Smiles” Anders of La Grange. According to an article written several years ago by local historian Carolyn Heinsohn, Anders was born in Hong Kong on October 17, 1933 while his father was stationed in the Far East.

According to Heinsohn, “After his father’s retirement from the military, the family moved to La Grange, where they lived from 1946 to 1950. The two Anders brothers, Arthur and E.F., bought the Hermes Drug Store and operated it as a partnership.”

Bill Anders attended public school in La Grange from the eighth grade through his junior year. The family moved to California, where Anders graduated from Grossmont High School in La Mesa in 1951. The July 3, 1951, issue of the Fayette County Record chronicled his acceptance into the U.S. Naval Academy. Upon graduation, Anders took a commission in the Air Force.

Anders then embarked on an illustrious career as an Air Force pilot. NASA chose him from amongst the best pilots in the military to become an astronaut on the Apollo 8 mission. On Christmas Eve, 1968, he, along with Frank Borman and James A. Lovell, Jr., became the first humans to orbit the moon. Anders took the iconic “Earthrise” photograph from the Apollo capsule on that mission.

On April 19, 1969, La Grange honored him with “Bill Anders Day”. Anders and his family attended the event, which included a parade, reception, barbecue and a program of film and slides on his space flight.

Local resident Pete Hausmann recalled meeting Anders back then.

“I met him in 1969, I believe it was at a City Hall shindig,” Hausmann said. “He signed pictures for us. My dad was a good friend when he lived here. Played football in his front yard - a rust colored brick house on 77 near St. Paul Lutheran church. I was 11. Big impact on my life. Took the pictures to showand- tell at school.”

After his career in NASA, Anders served on the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. He was an ambassador to Norway during the 1970s. He later held a number of important posts in the private sector, most notably as president and CEO of General Dynamics, a major military contractor.

“The family is devastated,” his son Greg Anders told the Associated Press on Friday. “He was a great pilot, and we will miss him terribly.”