Abstract
Michael Collins is a former astronaut who was part of the Apollo 11 moon mission. He was born in Rome on October 31, 1930, where his father, Major General James Collins, was stationed. After the United States entered World War II, the family moved to Washington, D.C., where Collins attended St. Albans School. During this time, he entered West Point Military Academy, and decided to follow his father into the armed services. In 1952, Collins graduated from West Point with a Bachelor of Science degree. He joined the Air Force that same year. His excellent performance earned him a position on the advanced day fighter training team at Nellis Air Force Base, where he flew the advanced F-86 Sabres. He also served as an experimental flight test officer at Edwards Air Force Base in California, testing jet fighters. Collins made the decision to become an astronaut after watching John Glenn's Mercury Atlas 6 flight. After his initial application was rejected, Collins entered the USAF Aerospace Research Pilot School as the Air Force began to research space more intensively. In 1963, NASA once again called for astronaut applications, and Collins was chosen to be part of the third group of astronauts. Collins made two spaceflights as an astronaut. The first, on July 18, 1966, was the Gemini 10 mission, where Collins performed a spacewalk. The second was the famous Apollo 11 mission on July 20, 1969—the first lunar landing in history. Collins remained in the Command Module while his partners Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon's surface. After their safe return, Collins, Armstrong and Aldrin were all awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Richard Nixon. Collins left NASA in January 1970 and joined the administrative staff of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. A decade later, in 1980, he entered the private sector, to work as an aerospace consultant. He remains active to this day, the least well known but no less important member of the Apollo 11 crew.
