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William Anders

American - (NASA)

Deceased

Date of Birth: Oct. 17, 1933
Date of Death: June 7, 2024


William Alison "Bill" Anders was a United States Air Force Major general, electrical engineer, nuclear engineer, NASA astronaut, and businessman. He was one of the first three persons to leave low Earth orbit and travel to the Moon in Apollo 8 along with fellow astronauts Frank Borman and Jim Lovell as well as for photographing the iconic image, Earthrise. Apart from his professional and military careers, Anders was the U.S. Ambassador to Norway from 1976 to 1977 under President Gerald Ford.

Saturn V | Apollo 8

National Aeronautics and Space Administration | United States of America
Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA
Dec. 21, 1968, 12:51 p.m.
Status: Success
Mission:

Apollo 8 was the first flight of the mighty Saturn V launch vehicle key to human exploration of the moon. The three-astronaut crew — Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot James Lovell, and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders. This Mission was the first manned spacecraft to orbit the moon.

Low Earth Orbit
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Acting Administrator: James Free

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and aerospace research. NASA have many launch facilities but most are inactive. The most commonly used pad will be LC-39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.


Falcon 9
Success
15 hours, 4 minutes ago
Project Kuiper (KF-02)
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

Second of a three launches contract for Amazon's Kuiper low Earth orbit satellite internet constellation. 24 satellites are on board.


Smart Dragon 3
Success
3 days, 11 hours ago
Geely Constellation Group 04
Oriental Spaceport mobile launch ship - Sea Launch

11 LEO communications satellites for Chinese car manufacturer Geely Automotive for testing autonomous driving/inter-vehicle communication services. T…


Electron
Success
6 days, 23 hours ago
The Harvest Goddess Thrives (iQPS Launch 4)
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1B - Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

Synthetic aperture radar Earth observation satellite for Japanese Earth imaging company iQPS.


Long March 12
Success
1 week ago
SatNet LEO Group 07
Commercial LC-2 - Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China

A batch of 9 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites for the Chinese state owned SatNet constellation operated by the China Satellite Network Group.…


Falcon 9
Success
1 week ago
Starlink Group 10-30
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 28 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.