"The family is devastated," retired Air Force Lt. Col. Greg Anders said. "He was a great pilot and we will miss him terribly."

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

The photograph, the first color 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 photo is credited with sparking the global environmental movement for showing how delicate and isolated Earth appeared from space.

NASA Administrator and former Sen. Bill Nelson said Anders embodied the lessons and the purpose of exploration.

"He traveled to the threshold of the Moon and helped all of us see something else: ourselves," Nelson wrote on the social platform X.

Anders snapped the photo during the crew's fourth orbit of the moon, frantically switching from black-and-white to color film.

"Oh my God, look at that picture over there!" Anders said. "There's the Earth coming up. Wow, is that pretty!"

The Apollo 8 mission in December 1968 was the first human spaceflight to leave low-Earth orbit and travel to the moon and back. It was NASA's boldest and perhaps most dangerous voyage yet and one that set the stage for the Apollo moon landing seven months later.