# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/william-anders
# Generated: 2026-09-01T13:02:20.581Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/william-anders"
name: "William Anders"
slug: "william-anders"
description: "One photograph from lunar orbit—Earth rising over the Moon's barren horizon—changed how the species saw home. William Anders, aboard Apollo 8 in December 1968, turned the camera and caught it."
tagline: "American astronaut and lunar explorer (1933–2024)"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/William_Anders.jpg?width=1200"
gender: "male"
country:
  name: "United States"
  isoCode: "US"
category:
  name: "Scientists"
  slug: "scientists"
profileType:
  name: "Scientist"
  slug: "scientist"
  entityType: "https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q39631"
birthDate: "1933-10-17"
deathDate: "2024-06-07"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           61.13
  momentum:             13.12744406692737
  historical:           25.27438
  currentAttention:     30.76923076923077
  sourceConfidence:     65
  profileCompleteness:  75
  trendDirection:       "FALLING"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
tags:
  - name: "Historical Figures"
    slug: "historical-figures"
  - name: "Other"
    slug: "other"
  - name: "Space Exploration"
    slug: "space-exploration"
  - name: "United States"
    slug: "united-states"
  - name: "Americas"
    slug: "americas"
  - name: "20th Century"
    slug: "20th-century"
platforms:
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    url:       "https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0974053/"
    handle:    "nm0974053"
sources:
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    title: "Wikidata"
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    title: "Wikipedia"
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    title: "وليام اندرس"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "William Anders"
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    title: "Ўільям Элісан Андэрз"
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    title: "William Anders"
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    title: "William Anders"
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    title: "William Anders"
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    title: "William Anders (Astronaut)"
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    title: "William Anders"
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    title: "ویلیام آندرس"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "William Anders"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Anders"
    title: "William Anders"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://gl.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Anders"
    title: "William Anders"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%95%D7%99%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%90%D7%9D_%D7%90%D7%A0%D7%93%D7%A8%D7%A1"
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    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
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    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
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  - url: "https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%93%CE%BF%CF%85%CE%AF%CE%BB%CE%B9%CE%B1%CE%BC_%CE%86%CE%BD%CF%84%CE%B5%CF%81%CF%82"
    title: "Γουίλιαμ Άντερς"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://af.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Anders"
    title: "William Anders"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "وليم أندرس"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Anders graduated from the Naval Academy in 1955, took an Air Force commission, and flew nuclear-armed interceptors before earning a nuclear engineering degree in 1962. He joined NASA and in December 1968 flew with Frank Borman and Jim Lovell on Apollo 8, the first crew to leave low Earth orbit, circle the Moon ten times, and broadcast live on Christmas Eve. After the mission he served in senior nuclear and aerospace roles: executive secretary of the National Aeronautics and Space Council, commissioner of the Atomic Energy Commission, chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, ambassador to Norway, and executive posts at General Electric, Textron, and General Dynamics, where he became chairman and CEO in 1991. He retired from the Air Force Reserve as a major general in 1988 and from General Dynamics in 1994. He died in June 2024 when the vintage trainer he was piloting went down near the San Juan Islands.