William Anders, the astronaut who took the first color photograph of Earth, has died

Former 1968 Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders died Friday when the plane he was flying alone in crashed in the waters off the San Juan Islands in Washington state, his son said.

Anders, 90, captured the first color image of Earth from space, which launched a global environmental movement by showing how fragile and isolated the planet appears.

Arizona senator and retired NASA astronaut Mark Kelly wrote on social media site X (formerly Twitter): “Bill Anders forever changed the way we view our planet and ourselves with his famous Apollo 8 Earthrise photograph. He inspired me and generations of astronauts and explorers. My thoughts are with his family and friends.”