Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins dies, age 90
April 28, 2021
US astronaut Michael Collins, who piloted the ship on the historic Apollo 11 mission that saw the first humans walk on the moon, died on Wednesday. He was 90 years old.
Collins' family said he died following a battle with cancer.
Remembering the 'forgotten' astronaut
During the Apollo 11 mission in July 1969, while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin traveled to the surface of the moon and took a "giant leap for mankind," Collins stayed behind.
For over 21 hours, Collins piloted the command module — circling the moon and losing contact with US space agency NASA every time the vessel passed into the dark side of the moon.
"I know that I would be a liar or a fool if I said that I have the best of the three Apollo 11 seats, but I can say with truth and equanimity that I am perfectly satisfied with the one I have," Collins wrote in his 1974 autobiography Carrying the Fire.
Mourning a pioneer
NASA marked Collins' passing, calling him a "true pioneer."
"NASA mourns the loss of this accomplished pilot and astronaut, a friend of all who seek to push the envelope of human potential. [...] His spirit will go with us as we venture toward farther horizons," the acting head of NASA, Steve Jurczyk, said in a statement.
Buzz Aldrin, now the last surviving member of the Apollo mission, wrote a tribute to his crewmate on Twitter.
"Dear Mike, Wherever you have been or will be, you will always have the Fire to Carry us deftly to new heights and to the future."
From test pilot to astronaut
Collins was born in Rome, Italy, on October 31, 1930. He started out as an Air Force test pilot, before being chosen for NASA's astronaut program in 1964.
The Apollo 11 mission was his second, and final, space flight. Unlike his crewmates, he avoided the public eye and later went on to become the head of the National Air and Space Museum.
Collins later said the most poignant memory from the mission was looking back at planet Earth, which he described as appearing "fragile."
"I really believe that if the political leaders of the world could see their planet from a distance of 100,000 miles, their outlook could be fundamentally changed," he said. "That all-important border would be invisible, that noisy argument silenced."
rs/sms (AP, Reuters)