William Anders

William Anders is an American astronaut who was born on October 17, 1933 in Hong Kong. Before he became an astronaut, Anders was an Air Force pilot. He logged over 5000 hours of flight time.

Anders became an astronaut in 1963. He has spent over 148 hours in space. Anders made only one spaceflight, aboard Apollo 8 in 1968.

Apollo 8 was the first mission that left the Earth and orbited the moon. The spacecraft had a Saturn 5 rocket, the most powerful rocket ever used in space. On Christmas Eve, Anders and the rest of the Apollo 8 crew pulled into lunar orbit. They circled the moon 10 times and became the first humans to see the dark side of the moon.

Last modified prior to September, 2000 by the Windows Team

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