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William Anders

American - (NASA)

Deceased

Date of Birth: Oct. 17, 1933
Date of Death: June 7, 2024


William Alison "Bill" Anders was a United States Air Force Major general, electrical engineer, nuclear engineer, NASA astronaut, and businessman. He was one of the first three persons to leave low Earth orbit and travel to the Moon in Apollo 8 along with fellow astronauts Frank Borman and Jim Lovell as well as for photographing the iconic image, Earthrise. Apart from his professional and military careers, Anders was the U.S. Ambassador to Norway from 1976 to 1977 under President Gerald Ford.

Saturn V | Apollo 8

National Aeronautics and Space Administration | United States of America
Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA
Dec. 21, 1968, 12:51 p.m.
Status: Success
Mission:

Apollo 8 was the first flight of the mighty Saturn V launch vehicle key to human exploration of the moon. The three-astronaut crew — Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot James Lovell, and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders. This Mission was the first manned spacecraft to orbit the moon.

Low Earth Orbit
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Administrator: Bill Nelson

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and aerospace research. NASA have many launch facilities but most are inactive. The most commonly used pad will be LC-39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.


Falcon 9
Success
3 days, 7 hours ago
Starlink Group 12-2
Launch Complex 39A - Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

A batch of 21 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Electron
Success
4 days, 22 hours ago
StriX Launch 6
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1B - Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

Synthetic aperture radar satellites for Japanese Earth imaging company Synspective.


Falcon 9
Success
5 days, 1 hour ago
Bandwagon 2 (Dedicated Mid-Inclination Rideshare)
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

Dedicated rideshare flight to a mid-inclination orbit with dozens of small microsatellites and nanosatellites for commercial and government customers…


Long March 3
Success
5 days, 21 hours ago
TJSW-12
Launch Complex 2 (LC-2) - Xichang Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Chinese classified satellite claimed to be for communication technology test purposes. Actual mission not known.


Ceres-1S
Success
1 week ago
Tianqi 33-36
Oriental Spaceport mobile launch ship - Sea Launch

4 small satellites for LEO Internet of Things (IoT) communication purposes.