William Anders obituary | Space

It may be that the most famous photo from the US space program is not the photo of Neil Armstrong moon landing, but the image of Earth seen rising above the lunar horizon, image transmitted from space on December 24, 1968 by the crew of Apollo 8 – Frank BormannJim Lovell and Bill Anders.

Anders, who has died aged 90, was the one who clicked Photo “Earthrise”., which was not part of the mission’s planned protocol. And it was he who read first from the Book of Genesis during their live broadcast from lunar orbit that Christmas Eve.

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” he read. “And the Earth was without form and desolate; and darkness was over the deep.”

Anders later speaks of the environmental impact of the image, which contributes to the shift in perspective formulated by the poet Archibald MacLeish in the New York Times the next day, Christmas Day. The photograph allowed us, McLeish wrote, “to see the Earth as it really is, small blue and beautiful in the eternal silence where it floats.”

Although Anders was not the household name of some of the better-known astronauts, after Apollo 8 he had one of the most influential careers outside the space program, both in government service and as a corporate executive for defense and aerospace contractors.

All three of the Apollo 8 crew were among those recruited as a result of the initial success of the seven Mercury astronauts’ “Right Stuff.” Anders applied in 1963 to join the third batch of space pilots and was assigned the crucial mission that became the cornerstone of the US space effort.

Coming, as it did, at a time when the entire rationale of the “space race” was being questioned, Apollo 8’s success was renewed NASA and paved the way for man to set foot on the moon.

A year earlier, however, the mission saw crashes in the US and USSR space programs. In January 1967, the Apollo 1 capsule burst into flames on the launch pad, killing all three astronauts. In April, cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov’s Soyuz 1 parachute failed to open on re-entry and he crashed to his death. The race to the moon continued, but both unmanned lunar orbiters sent by the Soviets in 1968 failed. NASA recovered with the testing of a new Saturn V rocket (which would eventually launch Apollo 8 into space) and, in October 1968, the 11-day Earth orbit of Apollo 7. The stage was set for Apollo 8, which in 66 hours, 230,000 mile journey, entering lunar orbit on Christmas Eve. Its crew were the first people to see the dark side of the moon.

Bill was the prototype of the all-American boy, although he was born in Hong Kong, where his father, Arthur “Tex” Anders, was a naval lieutenant aboard a gunboat patrolling the Yangtze River. Baby Bill and his mother Muriel (née Adams) fled China when the Japanese attacked Nanking. During the attack, his father’s boat came under Japanese fire. After the captain was badly wounded, Tex wounded himself, took command and repulsed the Japanese, earning the Navy Cross.

Back in the US, attending Grossmont High School in San Diego County, California, Bill grew up fitting the astronaut mold. He achieved the rank of Life Scout, the second highest in the Boy Scouts, then earned an appointment to the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. After graduating in 1955, however, he transferred to the Air Force, attracted by the lure of flying and the prospect of faster advancement through the latest draft.

He married Valerie Hoard, whom he met in Annapolis, shortly after graduation, and was assigned to fly interceptors for Air Defense Command, defending against Soviet bomber attacks.

Stationed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, Anders studied for a master’s degree in nuclear engineering at the Air Force Institute of Technology. He would later be instrumental in raising the funds that enabled the founding of Wright State University.

His experience with reactor shielding and radiation effects at the Air Force Weapons Laboratory in New Mexico was a key factor in his selection as an astronaut—he became responsible for studying the effects of radiation on space capsules and their crews.

After serving as a backup pilot for the Apollo 11 mission, Anders left NASA to serve as executive secretary of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the president’s advisory board. In 1973 he was appointed to the Atomic Energy Commission and later chaired the joint US-USSR exchange program for fission and fusion energy. When nuclear regulation was reorganized in 1975, President Gerald Ford making him the first chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. When his term ended, Anders, of Norwegian descent, was appointed ambassador to Norway.

He left government service in 1977, was a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute think tank, then joined General Electric (GE) as general manager of their nuclear products division. After a stint at Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program, GE appointed him to lead their aircraft equipment division. He left in 1984 to take over the aerospace business of conglomerate Textron, rising to senior executive vice president in charge of corporate operations.

In 1990, he became vice chairman of General Dynamics, another major aerospace contractor, and the following year was named chairman and CEO. In order to hire him, General Dynamics had to agree to let Anders serve as a co-test pilot for the F-16 fighter jet they were developing for the Air Force.

Anders retired as a major general from the Air Force Reserve in 1988 and from industry in 1994. In 1996, he founded Flight Heritage Museum in Washington state. He flies his own planes in competitions and air shows and at various times holds six flying records. A particular admirer of the World War II-era P-51 Mustang, he and Bormann, who in 1968 re-entered Earth’s atmosphere together traveling at 25,000 miles per hour, flew side-by-side displays of their propeller-driven Mustangs another.

Anders was flying a Beech A45 when the plane went down off the San Juan Islands in Washington state. He died in the crash.

He is survived by Valerie, four sons, Alan, Glenn, Greg and Eric, and two daughters, Gail and Diana.