Biography

William Alison Anders (born October 17, 1933) is a retired United States Air Force major general, former electrical engineer, nuclear engineer, NASA astronaut, and businessman. In December 1968, as a crew member of Apollo 8, he was one of the first three people to leave low Earth orbit and travel to the Moon. Along with fellow astronauts Frank Borman and Jim Lovell, Anders circled the Moon ten times, and broadcast live images and commentary back to Earth. During one of the mission's lunar orbits, he took the iconic Earthrise photograph

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He earned a bachelor of science degree from the US Naval Academy, and a master of science degree in Nuclear Engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.

He was commissioned in the US Air Force after graduation from the Naval Academy, and served as a fighter pilot in all-weather interception squadrons of the Air Defense Command. Later, he was responsible for technical management of nuclear power reactor shielding and radiation effects programs at the Air Force Weapons Laboratory in New Mexico. In 1964, he was selected by NASA as an astronaut with responsibilities for dosimetry, radiation effects and environmental controls. He was backup pilot for the Gemini XI, Apollo 11 flights, and was lunar module pilot for Apollo 8, the first lunar orbit mission in December 1968.

In 1973, he was appointed to the five-member Atomic Energy Commission, where he was lead commissioner for all nuclear and non-nuclear power R&D.

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