Remembering Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders (1933-2024)

William Anders, Apollo 8 astronaut, passed away June 7 when his T-34 vintage aircraft crashed into Puget Sound, Washington. Anders took the iconic photo of the Earth rising over the moon.  He was 90 years old.

Happy birthday, Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders!

William "Bill" Anders, born October 17, 1933 in Hong Kong, went into space aboard Apollo 8 in December 1968.  It was the first manned spacecraft to orbit Earth's moon and return back to Earth.  Anders, with Frank Borman and James Lovell were the first men to see the moon up close.  Anders served as the Lunar Module Pilot. 

He is credited with taking the famous Earthrise photo of the Earth rising over the moon's horizon, December 24, 1968.

Happy birthday, Gemini and Apollo astronaut Jim Lovell!

Jim Lovell, born March 25, 1928 in Cleveland, Ohio, made two flights in NASA's Gemini program and two in the Apollo program, including the Apollo 13 mission.  He was the first person to go into space four times, is one of twenty-four people to fly to the moon, and one of three people to fly to the moon twice, although he did not make a landing.

His first mission was pilot on Gemini VII with Command Pilot Frank Borman in December 1965, and they spent 14 days in orbit.

His second flight was as Commander of Gemini XII with pilot Buzz Aldrin in November 1966. They performed three EVAs and conducted the fourth space docking with the Agena target vehicle, proving men could work outside a spacecraft, which paved the way for sending men to the moon.

His third flight was on Apollo 8 as Command Module Pilot with Frank Borman and William Anders in December 1968.  It was the second manned mission of the Apollo program and the first to leave Earth's orbit, reach the moon, orbit it and then return safely to Earth.

Lovell's fourth and final flight was as Commander aboard Apollo 13, with Jack Swigert and Fred Haise in April 1970.  The disaster that occurred during the mission has been immortalized in the movie Apollo 13.  Tom Hanks portrayed Jim Lovell in the movie.  Lovell is the one who uttered the famous phrase:  "Houston, we've had a problem."

Back to the moon?

How many of you have wanted to go to the moon?  Everybody?  Well, we’re all nerds here so I’m not surprised. 

What is a surprise is NASA’s announcement that there is the possibility of astronauts returning to the moon as early as next year.  2018 is the fiftieth anniversary year of Apollo 8, which was the first spacecraft to reach and orbit our natural satellite.  Commander Frank Borman, James Lovell and William Anders left Earth’s orbit, circled the moon a few times and returned home safely.

Acting NASA administrator Robert Lightfoot said last month he wants to fast-track the heavy-lift rocket, Space Launch System (SLS), which has been in development since 2004.  Original plans called for the SLS to make an unmanned flight to the moon in 2018 and a manned mission would follow 3-5 years later.  Lightfoot acknowledged the challenges for hurrying the project but wants to discover the opportunities it would provide for getting humans farther into space.

Earthlings haven’t been to the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972 and the space shuttle program was shut down in 2011.  Of course, NASA has experienced mixed signals from presidents ever since.  Bush I said we’re going to Mars.  Then Obama said ‘no’ but changed it to ‘yes’ later on.  And The Donald has actually expressed interest in beefing up the space program.

But there has to be more than just talk. NASA’s budget is less than a third of what it was in the mid-1960’s (adjusted for inflation) when we built and flew Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and Skylab.  NASA needs support to get people back to the moon, because it is going to be a long road from there to Mars.

And I want to go.

http://time.com/4673290/nasa-moon-astronauts/?iid=sr-link1

Happy birthday, Gemini and Apollo astronaut Frank Borman!

Frank Frederic Borman II, born March 14, 1928, is a veteran of the Gemini and Apollo programs.  He flew on Gemini 7 in 1965 with James Lovell, setting a record the time of 14 days in space.  They performed maneuvers with Gemini 6A bringing the spacecrafts within 1 foot of each other.

Later, he was part of the Apollo 8 crew with James Lovell and William Anders, December 1968.

As of Jon Glenn's death in December 2016, Borman is the oldest living astronaut.

Apollo 8 launched 1968

Earthrise, Christmas Eve 1968

Apollo 8, launched December 21, 1968 with Commander Frank F. Borman II, Command Module Pilot James A. Lovell, Jr. and Lunar Module Pilot William A. Anders, marked the first time man Earth's gravity and orbit the Moon.  They were the first people to see the whole Earth, the far side of the Moon and Earth rise.

It took the crew three days to reach the moon.  They orbited the Moon ten times in the next twenty hours and made a Christmas Eve broadcast, reading from the Book of Genesis, Chapter 1, verses 1-10.

L-R: James Lovell, William Anders, Frank Borman

They returned to Earth December 27 and were named Time magazine's "Men of the Year" for 1968.