Former Astronaut Texted Friend to Say He’d be Flying Past Her House Before Deadly Plane Crash

Details are emerging about the June plane crash that killed William Anders, a former Apollo 8 astronaut known for taking the 1968 “Earthrise” image

Details are emerging about the June plane crash that killed former Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders.

The Beechcraft T-34 Mentor plane was carrying just one person, the pilot, when it crashed into a body of water near Deer Harbor, Washington around 11:40 a.m. local time June 7, according to a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board, viewed by PEOPLE.

Before the crash, Anders — known for taking the 1968 “Earthrise” image of the planet and completing first successful mission to take astronauts to the Moon and back — sent a text message to a family friend “indicating that he would be flying past her house” on the western shore of Orcas Island at about 11:40 a.m., per the report.

Related: Family of 5 in New York for Baseball Tournament Dies in Small Plane Crash

As the plane approached its destination, the pilot’s friend said she saw its left wing drop and “thought this was part of his usual routine.” But the wing continued to drop, and the plane “began to rapidly descend towards the water.”

The aircraft “began to pull out of the dive” as it approached the water, but still “struck the water with its right wingtip, and spun across the water on a northern trajectory.”

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The pilot’s friend said he would typically perform two flybys, and would sometimes rock the airplane’s wings as he passed by, but “never performed any kind of aerobatic maneuvers.”

The friend also said flights like this were not unusual for the pilot, “and this was the first time he had performed one this year.”

The plane involved in the crash was based at Skagit Regional Airport (BVS) in Burlington “and stored in a museum facility founded by the pilot,” according to the NTSB.

The pilot’s son, who was working at the museum on the day of the crash, said his father “appeared to be in good spirits” when he arrived at the museum that morning, per the report.

Related: Canadian Family of 5, Including 3 Kids, Identified as Victims of Plane Crash on Nashville Highway

“The family is devastated,” son Greg Anders previously told the Associated Press. “He was a great pilot and we will miss him terribly.”

Most of the plane’s wreckage “was recovered from the channel” in the week following the fatal crash, according to the NTSB.

The Federal Aviation Administration is also investigation the crash.

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