RIP Bill Anders

I'll blame it on my gallivanting all over Martha's Vineyard and dog-sitting my buddy Riley, but I'm embarrassed to admit I totally missed the death of Bill Anders last week at 90:

Maj. Gen. William A. Anders, who flew on the first manned space mission to orbit the moon, the Apollo 8 “Genesis flight” of Christmas Eve 1968, and took the color photograph “Earthrise,” which is credited with inspiring the modern environmental movement, died on Friday morning when a small plane he was piloting alone dived into the water northwest of Seattle.

On Christmas Eve, during their 10 orbits of the moon, the three astronauts, whose movements were telecast to millions around the world, took photos of Earth as it rose over the lunar horizon, appearing as a blue marble amid the blackness of the heavens. But only Major Anders, who oversaw their spacecraft’s electronic and communications systems, shot color film.

His photo shook the world. Known as “Earthrise,” it was reproduced in a 1969 postage stamp bearing the words “In the beginning God …” It was an inspiration for the first Earth Day, in 1970, and appeared on the cover of Life magazine’s 2003 book “100 Photographs That Changed the World.”

Is it just me, or is there something tragic about how he died? He literally flies around the Moon on the shoulders of the single greatest engineering event in human history, and then meet his demise in a tiny plane somewhere in Seattle? Or is that exactly how someone like him would want to go? (Don't get me started on my "HE DIED DOING WHAT HE LOVED" thoughts don't you dare!)

Another hero from the brilliant Apollo program gone. For as much insight as you're going to get on Bill Anders, watch the fantastic doc below; a few weeks a go I mentioned the anecdote about the famous Earthrise photo almost not being taken with a hilarious rap HERE.

Previous Xmastime Apollo 8 love from years ago HERE.