Apollo 8 astronaut who took 'Earthrise' photo dies in plane crash

Retired astronaut William Anders, who was one of the first three people to orbit the Moon, capturing the famed "Earthrise" photo during the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (Nasa) Apollo 8 mission in 1968, died on June 7 when the small plane he was piloting crashed in Washington state.

He was 90.

Nasa chief Bill Nelson paid tribute to Mr Anders on social media with a post of the iconic image of Earth rising over the lunar horizon, saying the former US Air Force pilot "offered to humanity among the deepest of gifts an astronaut can give".

near The Heritage Flight Museum Burlington, Washington, which he co-founded, confirmed that Mr Anders was killed in an aircraft accident. Mr Anders was piloting the plane alone when it went down off the coast of Jones Island, part of the San Juan Islands archipelago between Washington and Vancouver Island, British Columbia, The Seattle Times reported, citing his son Greg.

According to television station KCPQ-TV, Mr Anders, a resident of San Juan County, was at the controls of a vintage Air Force singleengine T-34 Mentor that he owned.

Video footage on KCPQ showed a plane plunging from the skies in a steep dive before slamming into the water just offshore.

A US Naval Academy graduate and Air Force pilot, Mr Anders joined Nasa in 1963 as a member of the third group of astronauts.