Bill Anders, who as an Apollo 8 astronaut was one of the first people to fly to the moon in 1968, was killed on Friday (June 7) when the vintage plane he was piloting crashed off the coast of the San Juan Islands in northwest Washington State.
Anders, 90, was confirmed to be the pilot of the downed Beechcraft T-34 Mentor single-engined aircraft by his son in a statement to the media.
"The family is devastated," said Greg Anders. "He was a great pilot. He will be missed."
"He traveled to the threshold of the moon and helped all of us see something else: ourselves. He embodied the lessons and the purpose of exploration. We will miss him," said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson in a statement.
The plane crash occurred at about 11:40 a.m. PDT (1840 GMT) off the coast of Jones Island in San Juan Channel, near Orcas Island where Anders resided. The aircraft was one of three such Air Force trainers owned and operated by Anders' Heritage Flight Museum in Burlington, Washington.
Video of the accident taken by local residents appeared to show Anders failing to pull up at the bottom of a loop and impacting the water.
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