*** Welcome to piglix ***

William Anders

William A. Anders
William Anders.jpg
1967 photo
NASA Astronaut
Nationality American
Status Retired
Born (1933-10-17) October 17, 1933 (age 83)
British Hong Kong
Other names
William Alison Anders
Other occupation
Fighter pilot
USNA, B.S. 1955
AFIT, M.S. 1962
Rank Major General, USAFR
Time in space
6d 03h 00m
Selection 1963 NASA Group 3
Missions Apollo 8
Mission insignia
Apollo-8-patch.png
Retirement September 1, 1969
Awards NASA Distinguished Service Medal.jpg

William Alison "Bill" Anders (born October 17, 1933), (Maj Gen, USAFR, Ret.), is a former United States Air Force officer, electrical engineer, nuclear engineer, NASA astronaut, and businessman. Anders, along with Apollo 8 crewmates Frank Borman and Jim Lovell, is one of the first three persons to have left Earth orbit and traveled to the Moon.

Anders was born on October 17, 1933, in Hong Kong, to U.S. Navy Lt. Arthur F. Anders (d. 2000) and Muriel Adams Anders (d. 1990). The family moved to Annapolis, Maryland, where Lt. Anders taught math at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School. After that, the Anders returned to China, but Muriel and Bill escaped to the Philippines after the Japanese attacked Nanking. They escaped by troop train to Canton; eating Campbell's soup boiled in a bucket for sustenance. The hotel they stayed at was 200 yards from the river the Japanese were bombing, the same river they would have to travel down to escape. Their ship was the first to go down the river after the Chinese had mined it.

He was active in the Boy Scouts of America where he achieved its second-highest rank, Life Scout. Anders attended St. Martin's Academy and graduated from Grossmont High School in La Mesa, California, in 1951.


...
Wikipedia

...