Opinion: Buzz Aldrin Pays Tribute To Apollo 8 Astronaut Bill Anders

Life is strange—never more than in the friends you make unexpectedly, how lives intertwine and where they lead. Bill Anders, who died June 7 at age 90 when the aircraft he was piloting crashed, was a friend and U.S. Air Force fighter pilot whom I met as part of NASA’s third astronaut class. While much has been written about Bill—he was naturally intrepid, a pioneer and part of Apollo 8’s historic crew—the backstory is worth retelling.

The Apollo missions were tightly scheduled back to back. Like Mercury and Gemini, the idea was to prepare, launch, execute, return, learn and take the next step—until we got to the Moon, when we would take steps beyond landing.

Apollo 8 wasn’t intended to go to the Moon. It was only our second crewed launch, following the death of three astronauts on the ground in Apollo 1, five uncrewed launches and Apollo 7, which tested all the systems in the command module.

Apollo 8 was planned for near Earth orbit, a second human test of the command module set to include deployment and testing of the lunar module. But three events changed the plan.

First, the prime crew was slated to be Bill Anders, Frank Borman and Michael Collins, but Mike—who later flew the command module for Apollo 11—suffered a disk herniation and suddenly needed back surgery, so he was replaced by Jim Lovell.

Second, with Bill Anders, Frank Borman and Jim Lovell now prime and Neil Armstrong and I part of their backup, Apollo 8 was focused on testing the lunar module—but it was not ready. This put NASA in a bind and changed Bill’s destiny.

We were in an existential race to the Moon with the Soviet Union. Many thought the time lost waiting for the lunar module to be finished might let the Soviets circumnavigate the Moon before us and claim victory, even without landing. NASA made a daring choice, and Bill Anders was part of it.

Apollo 8 would launch on the massive Saturn V—which had never before launched humans—shoot for the Moon, become the first human exploration to leave Earth’s orbit, orbit another planetary body (10 times) and return to Earth, putting America clearly ahead of the Soviets.

That mission was incredibly daring, and Bill—together with Frank and Jim—accepted all the risk, leaned into it and performed perfectly. The mission occurred over Christmas 1968, and the crew read from Genesis, led by Bill Anders with “In the beginning . . . .”

Many remember Apollo 11, on which Neil, Mike and I pioneered humankind’s first lunar landing, as the most significant Apollo mission, but that is not a fair reading of history. Apollo 8, with Bill Anders’ photograph of “Earthrise,” was the first human journey so far from home. Bill’s photo and his words remind us even now how small our planet is and how beautiful it is in depthless space.

Bill called Earth, from that Moon distance, a “very delicate, colorful orb, which to me looked like a Christmas tree ornament.” Maybe it was the season, but his description lingers and is accurate.

Bill also had a kind of honesty and humility about him, on top of being intrepid and forever daring. My crewmate on Apollo 11, Mike Collins, once said Apollo 8 was more significant than Apollo 11, and for sheer daring the point is well made. Bill’s answer, however, shows you his heart.

Told what Mike had said, Bill responded: “Well, I’ve thought about that, and I try to be objective. . . . I certainly think it was significant. I think landing on the Moon was very significant. . . . To say that Apollo 8 was more significant, I’m not ready to say that. They were both significant.”

Bill Anders was a friend, pioneer and man of both honor and class. He was part of an incredible team, but he was also a leader, believer and doer of the first order. He showed us how and gave us a picture of what we look like from the distance of the Moon. Now he reminds us each to keep reaching outward.

Thank you, Bill. Best and Godspeed.