William Anders, the astronaut who took the iconic “Earthrise” photo, dies in a plane crash

According to Gregory Anders, his father, one of the famous Apollo 8 crew members, William Anders, died in a plane crash in Washington state. William was one of the first three people to orbit the moon and the first to capture the view of the earth from lunar orbit in color film. The resulting photo has been dubbed “Earthrise” and is one of the most important environmental photos in human history.

How William Anders captured “Earthrise”

Willam wasn’t the first to take a picture from lunar orbit. Frank Borman, the mission commander, took a black and white photo just before him, and before him, a robotic probe from the Lunar Orbiter 1 did the same.

The “Earthrise” photograph was taken on December 24, 1968, 16:39:39.3 UTC, with a highly modified Hasselblad 500 EL and a 250mm lens. The camera was loaded with film Kodak developed specially for the mission. The entire shooting is well documented, and we even have the camera settings (1/250th of a second at f/11) and the dialogue between Anders, Borman, and Lovell (the command module pilot and the third person in the Apollo 8 crew).

Anders: Oh my God! Look at that picture over there! There’s the Earth coming up. Wow, that’s pretty.
Borman: Hey, don’t take that, it’s not scheduled. (joking)
Anders: (laughs) You got a color film, Jim? Hand me that roll of color quick, would you…
Lovell: Oh man, that’s great!

The image itself, as we know it, is actually rotated. In the original orientation (which more closely resembles what the crew saw), the moon is to the right of the frame.

Conclusion

It’s sad to see Anders leave us, but his and the Apollo 8 crew’s contribution to human history will be remembered. If you want to read more about the Apollo mission, we covered more images from the mission and more info about the Earthrise photo itself.

[via CNN]