Former astronaut William Anders, who took iconic Earthrise photo, dead.

[zqwerty]

Former astronaut William Anders, who took iconic Earthrise photo, killed in Washington plane crash

https://apnews.com/article/plane-crash-s...b328f7c263

"Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth, And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings; Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth Of sun-split clouds, --and done a hundred things You have not dreamed of --Wheeled and soared and swung High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung My eager craft through footless halls of air...

Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace Where never lark or even eagle flew -- And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod The high untrespassed sanctity of space, Put out my hand, and touched the face of God."

“High Flight” by John Gillespie Magee Jr https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/1...d3cfb1e9b7

[Oh_hunnihunni]

At 90...

Goes out with a bang rather appropriate to his life experience?

[nzoomed]

Quite sad to hear the news.
90 is quite a good old age, looks like he was still fit and healthy to fly an aircraft too.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

I don't find any death at that age sad, except for those who loved and will miss the deceased. That is a fine age, and well over the average...

What a great life he had. And what a legacy.

[Lilith7]

He left us a lovely image...

[nzoomed]

Apollo 8 is probably my favorite Apollo mission out of the lot.
Earthrise went down in history books and none of the crew realized the impact that photo would have had at the time.
Jim lovell is now the only surviving crew member left from Apollo 8.
I hope there will still be Apollo astronauts around to see the next moon landings.

[Lilith7]

Our generation was the first to see images of earth which made it clear that we're really all one despite our diferences.

And it was partly due to that I think, that ours was also the generation which tried to bring about peace; failed miserably of course, but at least we tried...

[Oh_hunnihunni]

The bone deep courage of astronauts will always astonish me. I find it quite hard to marry that realisation with the fact these are human beings, with the same flaws and weaknesses we all share. Every one of them is a superhero to me, and I bless the day I actually got to shake the hand of one of them, one of my lifelong golden moments.