Page 4 - Greg Anders News Today

Former astronaut William Anders is dead at the age of 90 after a plane crash in Washington state.

Retired major-general William Anders, the former Apollo 8 astronaut who took the iconic Earthrise photo showing the planet as a shadowed blue marble from space in 1968, was killed Friday when the plane he was piloting alone plummeted into the waters off the San Juan Islands in Washington state. He was 90.

Retired Maj. Gen. William Anders, the former Apollo 8 astronaut who took the iconic "Earthrise" photo died in a plane Washington plane crash.

Retired Maj. Gen. William Anders, the former Apollo 8 astronaut who took the iconic "Earthrise" photo showing the planet as a shadowed blue marble from space in 1968, has been killed when the plane he was piloting alone plummeted into the waters off the San Juan Islands in Washington state

His photo is credited with sparking the global environmental movement for showing how delicate and isolated Earth appeared from space

William Anders captured the iconic Earthrise showing the planet as a shadowed blue marble from space in 1968 when he and fellow astronauts became the first to orbit the Moon.

Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders was on board the plane that crashed near Orcas Island Friday, family told KIRO 7 News.

His photo is credited with sparking the global environmental movement for showing how delicate and isolated Earth appeared from space

Awestruck, Anders snapped the timeless shot of the glorious blue and white planet rising over the horizon of the gray and lifeless moon, and "how tiny and fragile and precious and finite it is."

William Anders, who snapped one of the most iconic images of the space age, was killed when his small plane went down off the coast of Washington state.