WASHINGTON, June 8. /TASS/. William Anders, one of the members of the Apollo 8 space mission, has died as a result of a plane crash, Fox13 reported.

According to the news portal, Anders was piloting a plane that crashed on Friday near the San Juan Islands off the US West Coast. He was 90 years old.

The Apollo 8 spacecraft was launched by the US in 1968 with Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders onboard. It was the first crewed spacecraft to leave the Earth's gravitational field, and the first human space flight to orbit the Moon. During the flight, Anders took the iconic "Earthrise" photo, showing the planet from space.