posted 06-17-2024 11:24 AM               

Space Cover 758: Bill Anders

With the recent passing of Bill Anders we have lost another one of the heroes of the Space Age.

Bill Anders is remembered as a United States Air Force major general, and a member of the crew of Apollo 8, the first mission to leave low Earth orbit. The crew of Anders, Frank Borman, and Jim Lovell circled the moon 10 times and broadcast live images back to Earth including a moving reading of the first 10 verses of the Book of Genesis on Christmas Eve. Anders is the astronaut who took the famous Earthrise photograph which is widely credited with jump starting the environmental movement as people began to see our planet Earth as a fragile beautiful blue marble in a sea of darkness.

Anders observed, "We set out to explore the moon and instead discovered the Earth."

Apollo 8 launched on December 21, 1968 and splashed down in the North Pacific Ocean on December 27, 1968.

These two Robert Rank Flocked covers are my favorite Apollo 8 covers in my collection. The first cover depicts the crew and a representation of the Apollo capsule circling the moon. The second cover cancelled December 25, 1968, is an example of Rank's use of "glow in the dark" ink, and when exposed to light for a time will ...glow in the dark. Very Cool!

Rank used this technique for several other covers for Apollo 14 and Apollo 15.

On January 10, 1969 a ticker tape parade was held in New York City for the Apollo 8 crew as depicted on this Sarzin cover, which is signed by the crew.

My father Paul Calle had known Bill Anders going back to the early Apollo days, and Bill had always admired my father's artwork. In reference to his oil painting "Power to Go," Anders had this to say —

"Paul Calle's painting is one of the finest of America's Apollo program. Having been one of the Apollo 8 crew who made the first manned flight on the mighty Saturn V rocket, I was not able to view the launch form the ground. But, Paul captured exactly what I felt riding on top of that beast.

When I was appointed the U.S. ambassador to Norway, the State Department allowed my wife, Valerie, and me to select art for the Residence. My first choice was - 'Power to Go.' It was a real hit!"

In 2009 while attending Spacefest in San Diego we were invited to Bill and Valerie's home for dinner arranged by our mutual friend Dr. Bill Hartel. Knowing that Bill Anders enjoyed "Power to Go" we had a gift for the Anders' of a large canvas print for the Heritage Flight Museum in the state of Washington founded by Anders. I also brought along with me several #C76 First Man on the Moon First Day Covers which depict my dad's oil painting. Bill was very kind and signed several for our family. It was a memorable time and I heard stories I never knew and gained perspective on various astronauts and manned space exploration.

When I asked Bill which orientation of Earth and the moon he preferred for the famous Earthrise photo, he replied "both," and then proceeded to show us that he had it framed and hung on the wall two different ways in separate parts in the house.

I am currently working on a 7 foot long Earthrise oil painting and hoped to be able to show it to Bill when completed this month. In addition to adding a few pieces of flown Apollo 8 kapton foil Bill had signed a small piece of canvas that I plan to also affix to the painting.

posted 06-19-2024 04:15 AM               

Loved hearing the stories of your personal encounters with the Anders family while in San Diego (dinner at their home), your Dad's impressions of knowing the Apollo 8 LMP, and from what Anders said about "Power to Go."

Once finished Chris (by late June?), you must show us cS readers your new 7-foot long painting with added flown Apollo 8/CM-103 Kapton along with a signed Anders small piece of affixed canvas. And by the way, Chris, if you would also like to add or include in the painting a small piece of CM-103's ablative aft heat shield, I would be happy to oblige with my compliments.