SAN JUAN COUNTY, Wash. - Retired American astronaut William Anders, who was a member of the Apollo 8 crew, has been identified as the pilot inside th

William Anders, Apollo 8 astronaut, ID'd as pilot in San Juan Islands plane crash

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2024-06-08 00:30:02

SAN JUAN COUNTY, Wash. - Retired American astronaut William Anders, who was a member of the Apollo 8 crew, has been identified as the pilot inside the plane that crashed in the waters off the San Juan Islands on Friday afternoon.

According to flight data and FAA records, FOX 13 Seattle has confirmed the plane that crashed was a vintage Air Force T-34 Mentor, which is owned by Anders, who is also a San Juan County resident.

Close-up of American astronaut William Anders, of NASA's Apollo 8 mission, during a panel interview held at the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, Illinois, April 5, 2018. (Photo by J.B. Spector/Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago/Getty Images)

Crews responded to a plane crash in the San Juan Islands on Friday afternoon. Officials with the United States Coast Guard Pacific Northwest said the crash happened near Orcas Island before 11:45 a.m.

William Anders was born on Oct. 17, 1933, in Hong Kong, but he grew up in San Diego. In 1955, Anders graduated from the United States Naval Academy with a bachelor of science degree, and received his master of science degree in nuclear engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology in 1962. He completed the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program in 1979.