The former Apollo 8 astronaut who took the iconic ‘Earthrise’ photograph in 1968 was killed in a plane crash on Friday.

William Anders, a retired major-general in the US Air Force, died when the aircraft he was piloting alone plunged into the waters of the San Juan Islands in Washington state. He was 90.

Mr Anders was onboard the first human spaceflight to reach the Moon and took one of the most famous photographs in history.

His son, Greg Anders, a retired lieutenant-colonel in the US Air Force, said: “The family is devastated. He was a great pilot and we will miss him terribly.”

William Anders has said the ‘Earthrise’ photo was his most significant contribution to the space programme, given the ecological philosophical impact it had, along with making sure the Apollo 8 command module and service module worked.

The photograph, the first colour image of Earth from space, is one of the most important photos in modern history for the way it changed how humans viewed the planet. 

The image is credited with sparking the global environmental movement for showing how delicate and isolated Earth appeared from space.

Bill Nelson, Nasa’s administrator, said: “Bill Anders offered to humanity among the deepest of gifts an astronaut can give. He traveled to the threshold of the Moon and helped all of us see something else: ourselves. 

“He embodied the lessons and the purpose of exploration. We will miss him.”

Mark Kelly, the senator for Arizona who is also a retired Nasa astronaut, wrote on the social platform X: “Bill Anders forever changed our perspective of our planet and ourselves with his famous Earthrise photo on Apollo 8. He inspired me and generations of astronauts and explorers. My thoughts are with his family and friends.”

Emergency services were alerted at 11.40am local time (7.40pm BST) on Friday that an older-model plane crashed into the water and sank near the north end of Jones Island, San Juan County Sheriff Eric Peter said.

Only the pilot was on board the Beech A45 airplane at the time, according to the Federal Aviation Association.

The National Transportation Safety Board and FAA are investigating the crash.

William Anders said in an 1997 NASA oral history interview that he did not think the Apollo 8 mission was risk-free but there were important national, patriotic and exploration reasons for going ahead. 

He estimated there was about one in three chance that the crew would not make it back and the same chance the mission would be a success and the same chance that the mission would not start to begin with. He said he suspected Christopher Columbus sailed with worse odds.

He recounted how earth looked fragile and seemingly physically insignificant, yet was home.

“We’d been going backwards and upside down, didn’t really see the Earth or the Sun, and when we rolled around and came around and saw the first Earthrise,” he said. 

“That certainly was, by far, the most impressive thing. To see this very delicate, colourful orb which to me looked like a Christmas tree ornament coming up over this very stark, ugly lunar landscape really contrasted.”

William Anders and his wife, Valerie, founded the Heritage Flight Museum in Washington state in 1996. It is now based at a regional airport in Burlington, and features 15 aircrafts, several antique military vehicles, a library and many artifacts donated by veterans, according to the museum’s website. Two of his sons helped him run it.

The couple moved to Orcas Island, in the San Juan archipelago, in 1993, and kept a second home in their hometown of San Diego, according to a biography on the museum’s website. They had six children and 13 grandchildren.