Ex-astronaut who died in Washington plane crash was doing a flyby near a friend’s home, NTSB says
The former Apollo 8 astronaut, best known for the iconic “Earthrise” photo, died last month while piloting a plane over the waters of Washington state. He was flying near a friend’s house when the fatal accident occurred, federal authorities said Tuesday.
Willem Anders, whose “Earthrise” photo In 1968, the American astronaut depicted the planet as a blue marble with a shadow, and texted a friend saying he planned to fly past her house on the western shore of Orcas Island, the National Transportation Safety Board said in its preliminary report.
The girlfriend said Anders’ flybys were not unusual, according to the NTSB. She said he typically did two flybys, and while he sometimes wiggled the plane’s wings, “he never performed any kind of aerobatic maneuvers.”
Around 11:37 a.m. on June 7, the girlfriend began hearing the “familiar” sound of his plane, the NTSB said. Shortly thereafter, she saw the older-model Beech A45 flying north over her head along the coast in front of her home.
She lost sight of the plane for a moment as it flew behind trees. When she saw it come back into view, it was flying south and over the water. After it passed, she saw the left wing drop and thought it was part of its routine. But the wing continued to drop as the plane plummeted toward the water below.
At the same time, another witness on the same shoreline north of Anders’ friend’s house filmed the vintage plane flying past on his phone, the NTSB said. As the video progresses, the plane can be seen diving nearly vertically toward the water before its right wingtip hits the water.
The friend and the person who took the video were the only two witnesses who came forward, the NTSB said.
The plane sank near the north end of Jones Island, which is off the western coast of Orcas Island, San Juan County Sheriff Eric Peter said. Anders’ body was recovered that afternoon.
Most of the wreckage was recovered in the week after the crash and is being stored for further examination, the agency said.
Anders’ “Earthrise” photograph, the first color photo of Earth taken from space, is one of the most important photographs in modern history because of the way it changed the way people saw the planet. The photo is credited with sparking the global environmental movement because it shows how vulnerable and isolated Earth looked from space.
Anders, a retired major general, said the photo was his most significant contribution to the space program, along with his work on the operation of Apollo 8’s command module and service module.
His son, retired Air Force Lt. Col. Greg Anders, told The Associated Press after his father’s death that the family was devastated.
“He was a great pilot and we will miss him terribly,” he said.