The victim of a deadly plane crash in Washington state on Friday has been identified as retired Lt. Gen. William Anders, the Apollo 8 astronaut who took the iconic “Earthrise” photograph, his son, Greg Anders, confirmed to The Associated Press.
The US Coast Guard’s Pacific Northwest branch confirmed that rescue teams were on the scene after receiving a report of a plane crash between Orcas Island and Jones Island in Washington state just before noon.
“The family is heartbroken,” Greg Anders told The Associated Press. “He was a great pilot and we will miss him terribly.”
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Close-up of American astronaut William Anders, a participant in NASA’s Apollo 8 mission, during a panel interview at the Museum of Science and Industry on April 5, 2018 in Chicago, Illinois. (JB Spector/Chicago Museum of Science and Industry/Getty Images)
During a Christmas Eve television broadcast in 1968, the Apollo 8 crew read a verse from the first chapter of Genesis and wished viewers “good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas, and God bless you all here on Earth.”
According to NASA, Anders took the “Earthrise” photograph from lunar orbit on December 24, 1968.
William was one of the first three people to travel to the Moon, along with his fellow crew members on Apollo 8. There is even a crater on the Moon named after Bill, “Anders Crater,” according to the Anders Foundation website.
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FILE – This Dec. 24, 1968 file photo released by NASA shows Earth obscured behind the lunar surface during the Apollo 8 mission. Retired Lt. Gen. William Anders, a former Apollo 8 astronaut who took the iconic “Earthrise” photograph that shows Earth as a shadowy blue sphere from space in 1968, died Friday, June 7, 2024, when the plane he was solo piloting crashed into the ocean off Washington’s San Juan Islands. He was 90 years old. (William Anders/NASA via The Associated Press, File)
The FAA confirmed to Fox News Digital that the plane that crashed was an older Air Force T-34 Mentor aircraft and that the pilot was the only person on board.
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The San Juan County Sheriff’s Office told Fox News Digital they are still conducting search and rescue operations and providing assistance to the Coast Guard.
Air Force Base Bellingham and Air Force Base Port Angeles are also on scene and assisting with search and rescue efforts.
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NASA portrait of the Apollo 8 crew, taken in Florida in December 1968. Command Module Pilot James Lovell, left, Lunar Module Pilot William Anders, right, and Commander Frank Borman, right. (Photo: NASA/Interim Archives/Getty Images)
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The National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA are investigating the accident.
This is a developing story.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
