Time.news – Michael Collins, one of the Apollo 11 astronauts, died at the age of 90. He had been fighting cancer for some time. The family announced it, underlining that “he has always faced the challenges of life with grace and humility and has faced the last days in the same way”.
The forgotten astronaut
Collins has often been nicknamed ‘the forgotten astronaut’ because unlike Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, he never walked on the moon but in the historic 1969 mission he remained at the controls of the lunar module, revolving around them. On April 22, on the occasion of Earth Day, he wrote on his Twitter profile: “I am sure that, if everyone could see the Earth floating just outside their windows, every day would be Earth Day. There are few things more fragile. or most beautiful on Earth, let’s work together today and every day to protect our home. “
In the shadow of Neil and Buzz
Of the three Apollo 11 astronauts who made history, he is the least known: unlike Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins, who died at 90 from a tumor, has never set foot on the moon. While in 1969 the two American astronauts held the world with bated breath and their eyes up, he was at the controls of the lunar module and continued to orbit 60 miles around the Moon for as long as the two colleagues remained there. For this he has often been nicknamed ‘the forgotten astronaut’.
Only he could bring them home
But his role was crucial, he was the only one who knew how to fly the spacecraft by himself and the only one who could bring them home. Aldrin himself recalled it, in the Twitter message with which he paid homage: “Dear Mike, wherever you have gone or will be, you will always have the fire to skillfully take us to new heights and into the future. We will miss you, rest in peace”. A reference to his autobiography ‘Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut’s Journeys’, released in 1974 with a preface by the famous aviator Charles Lindbergh, the first to make a solo transoceanic flight between New York and Paris, in 1927.
Son of a general
The son of an American army general, Collins was born in 1930 in Rome, where his father served; having passed through the famous West Point Military Academy, he had landed in the Air Force where he had become a test pilot. In 1963 he was chosen by NASA to become an astronaut: the first mission was aboard Gemini 10, becoming the fourth human being to walk in space. A destiny that Collins already dreamed of as a child, even if at the time he wanted to go to Mars, and not to the Moon.
The last mission
Apollo 11 was his last mission: with no regrets, in 1970, with the rank of general, he left “the best job in the world” and NASA – “the most glittering chapter of my life, but not the only one” – and entered the State Department. A few years later he became the director of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, overseeing its construction and inauguration in 1976. A life full of interests, which continued until the end, passing through triathlon, fishing and also painting. Always remembering … “My God, I’ve been up there!”.
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