William Anders

Anders now applied to the USAF Aerospace Research Pilots School (ARPS) for test pilot training.[2] But on 5 June 1963, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced that it would be recruiting ten to fifteen new astronauts for Project Gemini and Project Apollo,[10] and Anders decided to apply for that too. In two previous astronaut selections, applicants had to be test pilots, but this time it was preferred but not required, making Anders eligible. He was one of the 34 finalists chosen for interviews, and on his birthday, 17 October 1963, he was informed by Mercury Seven astronaut Deke Slayton that he had been accepted as a member of the third group of NASA astronauts. Three days later, Yeager informed him that he had failed to make the cut for the ARPS, but recommended that he apply again the following year.[2][11]

While at NASA, he became involved in dosimetry, radiation effects, and environmental controls.[9] In September 1966, he was the backup pilot for the Gemini 11 mission, with Neil Armstrong as the backup commander. This would have put him in line to fly a Gemini 13 mission, but no such mission was flown; Project Gemini ended with Gemini 12. Armstrong and Anders then became the first astronauts to fly the Lunar Landing Training Vehicle. The astronauts in his group without test pilot training—Anders, Roger Chaffee, Walter Cunningham, Rusty Schweickart, Gene Cernan and Buzz Aldrin—were assigned to Apollo crews as the lunar module pilot (LMP), the lowest-ranking crew member.[2][11]

On 22 December 1966, Anders was assigned to the third Apollo mission, which was to be commanded by Frank Borman, with command module pilot (CMP) Michael Collins; Neil Armstrong, Jim Lovell and Buzz Aldrin were assigned as their backup crew the following year.[12] Collins was replaced by Lovell in July 1968, after suffering a cervical disc herniation that required surgery to repair.[13] The mission, scheduled for December 1968, was intended to be a second test of the lunar module (LM) in medium Earth orbit,[14] but the delivery of the LM fell behind schedule, and when it arrived at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in June 1968, more than a hundred significant defects were discovered. There was no prospect of it being ready to fly in 1968.[15] In August 1968, there were reports, including one from the CIA, that the Soviet Union was planning a crewed lunar orbit mission before the end of the year.[16][17][18]

Although the LM would not be ready to fly in December 1968, the Apollo command and service module (CSM) would be, so a CSM-only mission could be flown. It could be sent to the Moon, entering lunar orbit before returning to Earth.[19] Slayton asked James McDivitt, the designated commander of the second mission, if he still wanted to fly it. McDivitt turned it down; his crew had spent a great deal of time preparing to test the LM, and that was what he still wanted to do.[20] When Borman was asked the same question, he answered "yes" without any hesitation.[16] Slayton then decided to swap the crews and spacecraft, so Borman, Lovell and Anders' mission became Apollo 8.[20][21] Anders was less enthusiastic about being the lunar module pilot of a mission without a lunar module.

According to Borman:

Rookie Bill Anders was thirty-five, slightly built, a devout Roman Catholic, and very serious minded. I'm not sure he ever got used to my rough sense of humor or Lovell's free-wheeling spirit. But Anders was one hell of a worker, a superb technician and all in all a great guy. Anders was always friendly and cooperative, but he avoided the usual astronaut bull sessions. Some of the guys regarded him as a younger version of Frank Borman in his single-minded concentration on work, his aversion to unnecessary conversation.[16]

Earthrise, taken by Anders on 24 December 1968

In December 1968, Anders flew on the Apollo 8 mission, the first mission where humans traveled beyond low Earth orbit,[9] and the first crewed flight to reach and orbit the Moon.[22] When the spacecraft came out from behind the Moon for its fourth pass across the front, the crew witnessed an "Earthrise" for the first time in human history.[23] NASA's Lunar Orbiter 1 had taken the first picture of an Earthrise from the vicinity of the Moon, on 23 August 1966.[24]

Anders saw the Earth emerging from behind the lunar horizon and called in excitement to the others, taking a black-and-white photograph as he did so. Anders asked Lovell for color film and then took Earthrise, which was later picked by Life magazine as one of its hundred photos of the century.[23][25] Anders stated that the Earthrise photograph "really undercut my religious beliefs. The idea that things rotate around the pope and up there is a big supercomputer wondering whether Billy was a good boy yesterday? It doesn't make any sense. I became a big buddy of Richard Dawkins."[26] According to Anders:

We came all this way to explore the Moon, and the most important thing is that we discovered the Earth.[27][28]

On conservation of the planet, he said:

If you can imagine yourself in a darkened room with only one clearly visible object, a small blue-green sphere about the size of a Christmas-tree ornament, then you can begin to grasp what the Earth looks like from space. I think that all of us subconsciously think that the Earth is flat ... Let me assure you that, rather than a massive giant, it should be thought of as the fragile Christmas-tree ball which we should handle with considerable care.[29]

The Apollo 8 command module splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on 27 December after a flight lasting 147 hours and 42 seconds and a voyage of 933,419 kilometres (504,006 nmi). It landed just 3.7 kilometres (2 nmi) from the recovery ship, the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown.[30] Due to time dilation, he had aged about 300 microseconds more than people back on Earth.[31]

The Apollo 11 mission was commanded by Armstrong, with Collins as the CMP and Aldrin as the LMP. The Apollo 8 crew became its backup, but without Borman. Lovell stepped up to become the backup commander, and Anders became the backup CMP, with rookie astronaut Fred Haise as the backup LMP.[12][32]

Anders could see that Project Apollo was coming to a close, and felt that his chances of commanding a Moon mission were slim.[33] On 16 May 1969, President Richard M. Nixon nominated him to become the executive secretary of the National Aeronautics and Space Council (NASC). This was the highest government post ever offered to an astronaut up to that time.[34] He was confirmed by the United States Senate on 19 June.[35] The Space Council consisted of the Administrator of NASA, the Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), and the Secretaries of State, Defense, and Transportation, and was chaired by the Vice President.[36] Due to his commitment to the Apollo 11 backup crew, Anders was unable to assume the position until August.[33][37]

Greg Anders sprays his father with the fire hose after completing his last flight in 2008

In his new role, Anders was responsible for developing aeronautical and space policy.[9] He worked closely with the Office of Science and Technology (OST) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and became a personal advisor to the OMB director, Caspar Weinberger.[33] Anders worked hard to bridge the gap between OMB and OST on the one hand and NASA on the other. He became increasingly pessimistic about the future of the NASC and the space program generally. He opposed the development of the Space Shuttle, urging instead that NASA concentrate on developing the Skylab space station.[38] He argued that a small Space Shuttle would be a better option than a large one, but the large one was approved because it would involve more jobs in California.[2] Frustrated with the NASC's lack of influence, he recommended in 1972 that it be abolished.[38] This was done on 30 June 1973.[39]

Nixon was impressed by Anders, and wanted to retain him in the administration.[40] On 6 August 1973, he appointed Anders to the five-member AEC. Nixon felt that the commission was dominated by lawyers and he wanted an engineer on it. The chairman of the AEC, Dixie Lee Ray, made Anders the lead commissioner for nuclear and non-nuclear power research and development. He also served as the US chairman of the joint US-Soviet Union nuclear fission and fusion power technology exchange program.[9][2] He spent much of his time dealing with the AEC's problematic research and development programs, particularly the troubled breeder reactor program.[41]

One issue that had dogged the AEC since its inception was its dual role in both developing nuclear energy and regulating it. The perception that there was a conflict of interest between the two roles became acute with the growth of the nuclear power industry.[41] On 19 January 1975, the commission was split in two, with its research and development responsibilities assumed by the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA), and its regulatory ones by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Some 1,970 former employees of the AEC joined the NRC.[42] President Gerald R. Ford appointed Anders as the first chairman of the NRC. He was the only one of the five AEC commissioners to transition to one of the new organizations. Anders made the decision process of the commissioners of the NRC more transparent than that of the AEC. The NRC inherited nuclear safety and environmental compatibility functions from the AEC, but unlike the AEC's regulatory branch, the NRC had its own safety and security research capability, so it was not reliant on the ERDA.[41]

At the completion of his term as NRC chairman, Anders was asked if he would be interested in an ambassadorship. He did not want to, but asked his wife Valerie. She expressed an interest in Norway, based on their trip there during the Apollo 8 world publicity tour. So Anders asked if Norway was available. Lawrence Eagleburger submitted his name for the position.[2] Anders was appointed Ambassador to Norway on 13 April 1976, and held that post until 18 June 1977.[43]

Anders served briefly as a fellow of the American Enterprise Institute. In September 1977, he joined General Electric (GE) as its vice president and general manager of its Nuclear Products Division. Based in San Jose, California, Anders was responsible for the fuel, equipment, and instrumentation used in its boiling-water reactors in San Jose and Wilmington, North Carolina. He also oversaw GE's partnership with Chicago Bridge and Iron, which manufactured large steel pressure vessels in Memphis, Tennessee. In August 1979, GE sent him to Harvard Business School to attend its six-week Advanced Management Program. On 1 January 1980, he became the general manager of the GE Aircraft Equipment Division. From its headquarters in Utica, New York, the division controlled more than 8,500 employees in five locations in northeastern United States. Its products included aircraft flight and weapon control systems, cockpit instruments, aircraft electrical generating systems, airborne radars and data processing systems, electronic countermeasures, space command systems, and aircraft/surface multi-barrel armament systems.[9]

Anders taxiing a North American P-51 Mustang at Bergen Air Show in 2005

In 1984, Anders left GE to join Textron as its executive vice president for aerospace. Two years later he became senior executive vice president for operations,[9] but Anders did not get along well with the CEO. A perk of the job was that he got to fly Bell helicopters, as Bell was a subsidiary of Textron.[2] During his time in the civil service, Anders had remained in the Air Force as a reservist and had retained his active flight status flying NASA Northrop T-38 Talon aircraft and helicopters, retiring from the reserves as a major general in 1988. He was also a consultant to the US Office of Science and Technology Policy, and a member of the Defense Science Board and the NASA Advisory Council.[6]

Anders became vice chairman of General Dynamics in 1990, and on 1 January 1991, its chairman and CEO. As chairman, he appointed himself as an assistant test pilot for the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon.[2][9] He moved corporate headquarters from St. Louis, Missouri, to Falls Church, Virginia, to be closer to its military customers at The Pentagon but then reduced the staff there from 250 to 50. He negotiated a $1 billion settlement over the canceled McDonnell Douglas A-12 Avenger II program, and sold off nearly $3 billion in assets, including the missile systems and Cessna, and sold the military aircraft division to the Lockheed Corporation for $1.5 billion. This reduced the number of employees from 98,600 to around 35,000, and the company's debt from $430 million (equivalent to $800 million in 2022) to $183 million (equivalent to $400 million in 2022). Value was returned to the shareholders in the form of $600 million in dividends. Although annual sales dropped from $10 to $3.5 billion, the value of the company's share price quadrupled. Anders earned over $40 million.[44][45] He retired as CEO in 1993, and as chairman in May 1994.[2][9]

In retirement, Anders bought a house on the waterfront in the San Juan Islands. He disliked the winter there so he bought a second dwelling in Point Loma, California.[2] He established the William A. Anders Foundation, a philanthropic organization for educational and environmental issues. He also founded the Heritage Flight Museum in 1996 in Bellingham, Washington, which moved to Skagit Regional Airport in Burlington, Washington, in 2014. The museum was run by his family, with Anders as president, his wife Valerie as secretary, son Greg as vice president, executive director and webmaster, and son Alan as vice president and director of maintenance. Anders was the president and, until 2008, participated in its air shows.[2][46] From his Air Force career onward, he logged over 8,000 hours of flight time.[47]