Bill Anders

William Alison Anders 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 photographed 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.

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Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders, who captured 'Earthrise,' killed in plane crash

In 2018, 50 years after his Apollo 8 mission, astronaut Bill Anders ridiculed the idea of sending human missions to Mars, calling it "stupid". His former crewmate Frank Borman shares Ander's view, adding that putting colonies on Mars is "nonsense"