It may be that the most famous image of the US space program is not the shot Neil Armstrong landing on the moon, but the image of Earth rising above the moon’s horizon, an image transmitted from space by the crew of Apollo 8 on December 24, 1968 – Frank BormanJim Lovell and Bill Anders.
It was Anders, who died at the age of 90, who broke the “Earthrise” photo, which was not part of the mission’s scheduled protocol. And it was he who first read from the Book of Genesis that Christmas Eve during their live broadcast from lunar orbit.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” he read. “And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the flood.”
Anders later spoke about the ecological impact of the image, which contributed to a shift in perspective articulated by the poet Archibald MacLeish in the New York Times the next day, Christmas Day. The photograph enabled us, MacLeish wrote, “to see the earth as it really is, small blue and beautiful in that eternal stillness where it hovers”.
Although Anders was not the household name some of the most famous astronauts were, 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 space industry contractors.
All three of the Apollo 8 crew were among those recruited in the wake of the original success of the seven “Right Stuff” Mercury astronauts. Anders applied to join the third intake of space pilots in 1963, and was assigned the pivotal mission, which became the centerpiece of the American space effort.
As it happened at a time when the entire rationale for the “space race” was being questioned, Apollo 8’s success revived Nasa and paved the way for man to sit on the moon.
However, the year before, the mission had seen the American and Soviet space programs each experience disaster. In January 1967, the Apollo 1 capsule burst into flames on the launch pad, killing its three astronauts. In April, the parachute on cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov’s Soyuz 1 vehicle failed to open on reentry, and he plunged to his death. The race to the moon continued, but both unmanned orbiters sent by the Soviets in 1968 malfunctioned. Nasa recovered with the testing of a new Saturn V rocket (which would eventually lift Apollo 8 into space), and in October 1968, the 11-day Earth orbit by Apollo 7. The stage was set for Apollo 8, which, after a 66-hour, 230,000-mile journey, entered lunar orbit on Christmas Eve. His crew were the first people to see the dark side of the moon.
Bill was the prototypical all-American boy, despite being born in Hong Kong, where his father, Arthur “Tex” Anders, was a naval lieutenant aboard a gunboat patrolling the Yangtze River. The baby Bill and his mother, Muriel (nee Adams), fled China when the Japanese attacked Nanjing. During the attack, his father’s boat came under Japanese fire. With the captain seriously wounded, Tex wounded himself, took command and repelled the Japanese, earning the Navy Cross.
Back in the US, attending Grossmont High School in San Diego County, California, Bill grew up with the astronaut shape. He achieved the Life Scout rank, the second highest in Boy Scouts, and then won appointment to the US 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 newest of the military services.
He married Valerie Hoard, whom he met at Annapolis, shortly after graduating, and was assigned to fly interceptors for the Air Defense Command, to guard against attacks by Soviet bombers.
Anders, assigned to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, studied for a master’s degree in nuclear engineering at the Air Force Institute of Technology. He would later become instrumental in the fundraising that made possible 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 investigating the effects of radiation on the space capsules and their crews.
After serving as the 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 fission and fusion exchange program. When nuclear regulation was reorganized in 1975, President Gerald Ford made him the first chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. When his term ended, Anders, of Norwegian descent, was appointed ambassador to Norway.
He left civil service in 1977, was a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute think tank, and 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 put him in charge of their aircraft equipment division. He left in 1984 to take charge of conglomerate Textron’s aerospace business, rising to senior executive vice president in charge of operations for the corporation.
In 1990, he became vice chairman of General Dynamics, another major aerospace contractor, and was named chairman and CEO the following year. In order to hire him, General Dynamics had to agree to let Anders serve as an assistant test pilot for the F-16 fighter jet they were developing for the Air Force.
Anders retired as a major general in the Air Force Reserve in 1988, and from industry in 1994. In 1996 he won the Heritage Flight Museum in Washington state. He flew his own planes in races and at air shows, holding six flying records at various times. A particular fan of the World War II-era P-51 Mustang, he and Borman, which re-entered Earth’s atmosphere in 1968 and traveled together at 25,000 miles per hour, would display their propeller-driven Mustangs side by side.
Anders was flying a Beech A45 when the plane came off the San Juan Islands in Washington state. He died in the accident.
He is survived by Valerie, four sons, Alan, Glen, Greg and Eric, and two daughters, Gayle and Diana.
