His name was mentioned here last week but who is Michael Collins?
Without Michael Collins there would have been no Apollo 11 moon landing. Neil and Buzz wouldn’t have walked on the moon and they wouldn’t have made it home to tell everyone about it either.
Michael Collins will always be the least well known of the Apollo 11 crew, I feel duty bound as an explorer to learn more about him. Not to do anything so grand as re-dress the balance of history in his favour, no. Like the Apollo moon-shot itself, I’ll do this because I can, because there’s always something to learn by following a question that you’re interested in.
And if it honours someone who might deserve it at the same time? Well why on Earth not!
So here’s a little more information on the man himself…
Name: Michael Collins
Born: Rome, Italy, October 31 1930
Education: Bachelor of Science degree, United States Military Academy, West Point, New York (1952)
Interesting Fact: Collins was scheduled originally to be the CMP (Command Module Pilot) on Apollo 8 before suffering a cervical disc herniation and having to undergo back surgery. He was replaced by James Lovell, whose spot aboard Apollo 11 Collins took back upon his recovery. (Thanks to the CR4 Blog for this interesting Michael Collins fact!)
Memorable Quote: “Heroes abound, but don’t count astronauts among them. We worked very hard, we did our jobs to near perfection, but that is what we had been hired to do.” (Speaking in 2009 on the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission)
Publications: Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut’s Story, Liftoff, and the children’s book, Flying to the Moon and Other Strange Places
What you (might) hear on the NASA tour: “Like all our Apollo astronauts, Mike loved to race around Canaveral in his Stingray. You hadda make sure to look both ways before crossing the road. Those flyboys never went anywhere at less than 100 miles an hour!”
Unsubstantiated Anecdotal Fact: Michael Collins favourite colour is midnight blue and his favourite cheese is un-whipped
So there you have it, a little more info on the career of Michael Collins, although in my opinion that’s not all we now know. If there’s still so much to learn about an amazing career like this, imagine how much much we can still learn and discover about our own…
Michael Collins
[My thanks to NASA Goddard Photo and Video on Flickr.com for sharing this image]
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Q&A with Michael Collins from NASA online (2009)
The Guardian on Michael Collins ‘The Forgotten Astronaut‘ (2009)
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