Michael Collins (born October 31, 1930 in
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated municipality , with over 2.7 million residents in , while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 3.46 million. The metropolitan area of Rome is estimated by OECD to have a population of 3.7 million...
,
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
) is an
Irish AmericanIrish Americans are citizens of the United States who trace their ancestry to Ireland. A total of 36,495,800 Americans reported Irish ancestry in the 2006 American Community Survey. The only self-reported ancestral group larger than Irish Americans are German Americans...
former
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
astronautAn astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....
and
test pilotA test pilot is an aviator who flies new and modified aircraft in specific maneuvers, allowing the results to be measured and the design to be evaluated.Test pilots may work for military organizations or private, companies...
. Selected as part of the
third group of fourteen astronautsAstronaut Group 3, was the third group of astronauts selected by NASA. Their selection was announced in October 1963. Fourteen astronauts made up Group 3. Four died in training accidents before they could fly in space. All of the surviving ten flew in the Apollo program; five also flew Gemini...
in 1963, he flew in space twice. His first spaceflight was
Gemini 10Gemini 10 was a 1966 manned spaceflight in NASA's Gemini program. It was the 8th manned Gemini flight, the 16th manned American flight and the 24th spaceflight of all time .-Crew:-Backup crew:...
, when he and command pilot John W. Young performed two rendezvous with different spacecraft and Collins undertook two
EVAExtra-vehicular activity is work done by an astronaut away from the Earth, and outside of a spacecraft. The term most commonly applies to an EVA made outside a craft orbiting Earth , but also applies to an EVA made on the surface of the Moon...
s. His second spaceflight was
Apollo 11The Apollo 11 mission was the first human spaceflight to land on the Moon. Launched on July 16, 1969, it carried Mission Commander Neil Alden Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins, and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin Eugene 'Buzz' Aldrin, Jr...
where he served as the
command moduleThe Command/Service Module was a spacecraft built for NASA by North American Aviation. It was one of the two spacecraft that were utilized for the Apollo program, along with the Lunar Module, to land astronauts on the Moon. Together they were called the Apollo spacecraft...
pilot. While he orbited the Moon,
Neil ArmstrongNeil Alden Armstrong is an American aviator and a former astronaut, test pilot, university professor, and United States Naval Aviator. He was the first person to set foot on the Moon. His first spaceflight was aboard Gemini 8 in 1966, for which he was the command pilot...
and
Buzz AldrinBuzz Aldrin is an American mechanical engineer, retired United States Air Force pilot and astronaut who was the Lunar Module pilot on Apollo 11, the first lunar landing...
performed the first manned landing on the lunar surface. He is one of only
24 humans to have flown to the Moon.
Prior to becoming an astronaut, he had attended the
United States Military AcademyThe United States Military Academy at West Point is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located at West Point, New York. Established in 1802, USMA is the oldest of the United States's five service academies. The military garrison at West Point was occupied in 1778 and played a key...
, and from there he joined the
United States Air ForceThe United States Air Force is the aerial warfare branch of the U.S. armed forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on 18 September 1947 under the National Security Act of 1947 - 80 P.L....
and flew F-86s at
Chambley-Bussieres Air BaseChambley-Bussières Air Base is a former United States Air Force base in France. It is located in the Meurthe-et-Moselle département of France, about ten miles west of the French city of Metz, and about one mile southwest of Chambley-Bussières, on the south side of the Départemental 901 ...
,
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
. He was accepted to the
USAF Experimental Flight Test Pilot SchoolThe U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School is a military unit that trains experimental test pilots, flight test engineers, and flight test navigators to carry out test and evaluation of aerospace weapon systems. The school was established on September 9, 1944 as the Flight Test Training Unit at...
at
Edwards Air Force BaseEdwards Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located on the border of Kern County, Los Angeles County, and San Bernardino County, California, in the Antelope Valley. It is southwest of the central business district of North Edwards, California and due east of Rosamond. It is named in...
in 1960. He unsuccessfully applied for the second astronaut group but was accepted for the third group.
After retiring from NASA in 1970 he took a job in the Department of State as Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs. A year later he became the director of the
National Air and Space MuseumThe National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution is a museum in Washington, D.C., United States, and is the most popular of the Smithsonian museums. It maintains the largest collection of aircraft and spacecraft in the world...
. He held this position until 1978 when he stepped down to become undersecretary of the
Smithsonian InstitutionThe Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its shops and its magazines...
. In 1980 he took the job as Vice President of LTV Aerospace. He resigned in 1985 to start his own business.
He is married to Patricia, and they have three children: Kate, Ann, and Michael, Jr.
Childhood and education
Michael Collins was born in
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated municipality , with over 2.7 million residents in , while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 3.46 million. The metropolitan area of Rome is estimated by OECD to have a population of 3.7 million...
,
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
on October 31, 1930, to
United States ArmyThe United States Army is the branch of the United States Military responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military and is one of seven uniformed services...
Major GeneralMajor General or Major-General is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of Sergeant Major General. A Major General is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of Lieutenant General and senior to the ranks of Brigadier and Brigadier General...
James Lawton CollinsJames Lawton Collins was a Major General of the U.S. Army). He was the father of astronaut and Major General Michael Collins and Brigadier General James Lawton Collins Jr....
, who would serve in the army for 38 years. For the first 17 years of his life, Michael Collins would call
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated municipality , with over 2.7 million residents in , while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 3.46 million. The metropolitan area of Rome is estimated by OECD to have a population of 3.7 million...
,
OklahomaOklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,617,316 residents in 2007 and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
,
Governors IslandGovernors Island is a 172-acre island in Upper New York Bay, approximately one-half mile from the southern tip of Manhattan Island and separated from Brooklyn by Buttermilk Channel. It is legally part of the borough of Manhattan in New York City...
,
Puerto RicoPuerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is a self-governing unincorporated territory of the United States located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of the Virgin Islands...
and
Alexandria, VirginiaAlexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 128,283. Located along the Western bank of the Potomac River, Alexandria is approximately 6 miles south of downtown Washington, D.C.Like the rest of northern Virginia, as...
home. He took his first ride in a plane in Puerto Rico aboard a
Grumman WidgeonThe Grumman G-44 Widgeon is a small, five-person, twin-engine amphibious aircraft. It was designated J4F by the United States Navy and Coast Guard and OA-14 by the United States Army Air Corps and United States Army...
. His father would often tell of how his own first plane ride had been in 1911 with
Frank LahmFrank Purdy Lahm was an American aviator in the United States Army.-Biography:Born in Mansfield, Ohio, he attended public school in Mansfield and later a Dominican school near Paris, France. Lahm then spent two years at Michigan Military Academy preparing for West Point, where he entered in June...
in the
PhilippinesThe Philippines officially known as the Republic of the Philippines, is a country in Southeast Asia with Manila as its capital city. It comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean....
.
After the United States entered
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the family moved to
Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C. , formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790...
where Collins attended
St. Albans SchoolSt. Albans School is a selective, private college preparatory school for boys in Washington, D.C. The School's motto, "Pro Ecclesia et Pro Patria," translates to "For Church and Country." Its mascot is the bulldog and its team colors are blue and white. The school is named after St. Alban,...
. His mother wanted him to enter into the diplomatic service, but he decided to follow his father, two uncles, brother and cousin into the armed services, and received an appointment to the
United States Military AcademyThe United States Military Academy at West Point is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located at West Point, New York. Established in 1802, USMA is the oldest of the United States's five service academies. The military garrison at West Point was occupied in 1778 and played a key...
, which also had the advantage of being free of tuition and other fees. He finished 185th out 527 cadets in 1952, the same class as
Ed WhiteEdward Higgins White, II was an engineer, United States Air Force officer and a NASA astronaut. On June 3 1965, he became the first American to conduct a spacewalk...
. His decision to join the
United States Air ForceThe United States Air Force is the aerial warfare branch of the U.S. armed forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on 18 September 1947 under the National Security Act of 1947 - 80 P.L....
for his active service was based on both the wonder of what the next fifty years may bring in aeronautics, and also to avoid accusations of nepotism if he joined the Army where, among other things, his uncle,
General J. Lawton CollinsJoseph "Lightning Joe" Lawton Collins was a General in the United States Army. During World War II, he served in both the Pacific and European Theaters of Operations. His elder brother, James Lawton Collins, was also in the army as a Major General...
, was the
Chief of Staff of the United States ArmyThe Chief of Staff of the United States Army is the highest ranking officer in the United States Army and is member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff...
. The Air Force Academy was only in its initial construction phase, and would not graduate its first class for several years; in the interim, graduates of the Military Academy,
Naval AcademyThe United States Naval Academy is an undergraduate college in Annapolis, Maryland, United States, that educates and commissions officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps. The Academy often is referred to simply as "Annapolis". It is also called "The Academy", "The Boat School", or "Canoe...
(such as fellow astronaut
Tom StaffordThomas Patten Stafford is a retired Air Force Lieutenant General, a former NASA astronaut, and the first General Officer to fly into space. He is one of only 24 people to have flown to the Moon.-Background:...
) and the
Merchant Marine AcademyThe United States Merchant Marine Academy is one of the five United States service academies...
were eligible for Air Force commissions.
Military service
After entering the Air Force, Collins completed flight training at
Columbus Air Force BaseColumbus Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base in Lowndes County, Mississippi, United States, five miles north of the city of Columbus, ten miles west of the Alabama state border...
, Mississippi in
T-6 TexanThe North American T-6 Texan was a single-engine advanced trainer aircraft used to train fighter pilots of the United States Army Air Forces, United States Navy, Royal Air Force and other air forces of the British Commonwealth during World War II. Designed by North American Aviation, The T-6 is...
s, then moved to
San Marcos Air Force BaseSan Marcos Municipal Airport is a public use airport located in Caldwell County, Texas, United States. It is four nautical miles east of the central business district of San Marcos, a city in Hays County. The airport is owned and operated by the City of San Marcos. It is located east of the...
and
James Connally Air Force BaseJames Connally Air Force Base was an United States Air Force base located north of Waco, Texas. After it's closure in 1968, the airport reopened as TSTC Waco Airport....
, Texas. He was chosen for advanced day fighter training at
Nellis Air Force BaseNellis Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is seven nautical miles northeast of the central business district of Las Vegas...
, Nevada, flying
F-86 SabreThe North American Aviation F-86 Sabre was a transonic jet fighter aircraft. The Sabre is best known for its Korean War role where it was pitted against the Soviet MiG-15 and obtained UN air superiority...
s. This was followed by an assignment to the 21st Fighter-Bomber Wing at the George Air Force Base, California, where he learned how to deliver nuclear weapons. He transferred with the 21st when it was relocated to Chaumont-Semoutiers Air Base,
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
in June 1954.
During a
NATOThe North Atlantic Treaty Organization ); ), also called "the Atlantic Alliance", is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on April 4, 1949...
exercise in the summer of 1956, Collins was forced to eject from an F-86 after a fire started aft of the cockpit. He was safely rescued and returned to Chaumont AB, where a wait of several hours ensued, as the base's flight surgeon had joined search parties looking for Collins.
Collins met Patricia Finnegan, his future wife, in an officers' mess. She was from Boston, Massachusetts, and was working for the Air Force service club. After getting engaged, they had to overcome a difference in religion. Collins was nominally Episcopalian, while Finnegan came from a staunchly
Roman CatholicThe Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church. With more than a billion members, over half of all Christians and more than one-sixth of the world's population, the Catholic Church is a communion of the Western, or Latin Rite Church, and...
family. Collins's father had been raised a Catholic, but converted to Protestantism when he married. The rest of his family remained Catholic. After seeking permission to marry from Finnegan's father, and delaying their wedding when Collins was redeployed to
West GermanyWest Germany is a common English name for the period of the Federal Republic of Germany between its' formation in May 1949 to German reunification in October 1990, when the German Democratic Republic was dissolved and the five states on its territory joined the Federal Republic of Germany,...
during the
1956 Hungarian RevolutionThe Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was a spontaneous nationwide revolt against the Stalinist government of the People's Republic of Hungary and its Soviet-imposed policies, lasting from 23 October until 10 November 1956....
, they married in the summer of 1957. Daughter Kate Collins, born in 1958, is a successful actress.
After Collins was reassigned back to the United States, he attended an aircraft maintenance officer course at
Chanute Air Force BaseChanute Air Force Base is a former United States Air Force base located south of and adjacent to Rantoul, Illinois, about south of Chicago...
, Illinois. He would later describe this school as "dismal" in his autobiography. Upon completing the course, he was posted to a Mobile Training Detachment (MTD) and travelled to Air Force bases, training mechanics on the servicing of new aircraft.
Test pilot
With the help of his time as a member of an MTD, Collins accumulated over 1500 hours of flying, the minimum required for the USAF Experimental Flight Test Pilot School at
Edwards Air Force BaseEdwards Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located on the border of Kern County, Los Angeles County, and San Bernardino County, California, in the Antelope Valley. It is southwest of the central business district of North Edwards, California and due east of Rosamond. It is named in...
, California. He successfully applied and reported on August 29, 1960, becoming a member of Class 60-C (which included future astronauts
Frank BormanFrank Frederick Borman, II is a retired NASA astronaut and engineer, best remembered as the Commander of Apollo 8, the first mission to fly around the Moon, making him, along with fellow crew mates Jim Lovell and Bill Anders, the first of only 24 humans to do so. He was also the chief executive...
and Jim Irwin). Following months of intensive training, Collins was one of the few chosen for a position in fighter operations.
The turning point for Michael Collins in his decision to become an astronaut was the Mercury Atlas 6 flight of
John GlennJohn Herschel Glenn Jr. is a retired United States Marine Corps pilot, a former astronaut and United States Senator who was the first American and third person to orbit the Earth. Glenn was a Marine Corps fighter pilot before joining NASA's Mercury program, NASA's original astronaut group. He...
on February 20, 1962, and the thought of being able to circle the Earth in 90 minutes. He immediately applied for the second group of astronauts that year. To raise their numbers, the Air Force sent their best applicants to a "charm school". Medical and psychiatric examinations at Brooks Air Force Base, Texas and interviews at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston followed. In mid-September he found that he had not been accepted, something that was a blow even though he did not really expect to be accepted. Collins still rates the second group of nine as the best group of astronauts ever selected by NASA.
That same year the USAF Experimental Flight Test Pilot School became the USAF Aerospace Research Pilot School, as the Air Force tried to enter into the research of space. Collins applied for a new course offered into the basics of spaceflight (other students included
Charles BassettCharles Arthur "Art" Bassett, II engineer, and was a United States Air Force officer and a NASA astronaut who died in an airplane crash.-Personal:...
,
Edward GivensEdward Galen Givens Jr was an United States Air Force officer and a NASA astronaut. He was selected in 1966 by NASA as a member of the 'Original 19' group....
and Joe Engle). Along with classwork they also flew up to about 90,000 feet in
F-104 StarfighterThe Lockheed F-104 Starfighter was an American single-engined, high-performance, supersonic interceptor aircraft that served with the United States Air Force from 1958 until 1967. One of the Century Series of aircraft, it continued in service with Air National Guard units until it was phased out...
s. As they passed through the top of their huge arc, they would experience a brief period of weightlessness. Finishing this course he returned to fighter ops in May 1963.
At the start of June of that year, NASA once again called for astronaut applications. Collins went through the same process as with his first applications, though he didn't take the psychiatric evaluation. He was at
Randolph Air Force BaseRandolph Air Force Base is a base of the United States Air Force located in Universal City, Texas, near San Antonio. Dedicated June 20, 1930, as a flying training base, it continues with that mission today....
, Texas on October 14 when
Deke SlaytonDonald Kent “Deke” Slayton was one of the original NASA Mercury Seven astronauts. After initially being grounded by a heart condition, he served as NASA's Director of Flight Crew Operations, making him responsible for crew assignments at NASA from November 1963 until March 1972...
called and asked if he was still interested in becoming an astronaut. Charlie Bassett was also accepted in the same group.
Space program
For the third group, training began with a 240-hour course of the basics of spaceflight. Fifty-eight hours of this was devoted to geology, something that Collins could not understand, and in which never became too interested. At the end,
Alan ShepardAlan Bartlett Shepard, Jr. was the second person and the first American in space. He later commanded the Apollo 14 mission, and was the fifth person to walk on the moon....
, who was head of the astronaut office, asked the fourteen to rank their fellow astronauts in the order they would want to fly with them in space. Collins picked
David ScottDavid Randolph Scott , a former NASA astronaut and engineer, was one of the third group of astronauts named by NASA in October 1963. As commander of the Apollo 15 mission, the fourth human lunar landing, he was the seventh person to walk on the Moon and the first person to drive on the Moon...
in the number one position.
After this basic training, the third group were assigned specializations, with Collins receiving his first choice of pressure suits and EVA. His job was to monitor the development and act as something of a go-between for the astronaut office and the contractors. As such he was annoyed when during the secretive planning of Ed White's EVA on
Gemini 4Gemini 4 was a June 1965 manned space flight in NASA's Gemini program. It was the 2nd manned Gemini flight, the 10th manned American flight and the 18th spaceflight of all time . It was crewed by James McDivitt and Edward White...
, he was not involved.
In late June 1965, Collins received his first crew assignment, the backup pilot for
Gemini 7Gemini 7 was a 1965 manned spaceflight in NASA's Gemini program. It was the 4th manned Gemini flight, the 12th manned American flight and the 20th spaceflight of all time .-Crew:...
. He was the first of the fourteen to receive a crew assignment (though would not be the first to fly. That honor went to David Scott on
Gemini 8Gemini 8 was a 1966 manned spaceflight in NASA's Gemini program. The mission conducted the first docking of two spacecraft in orbit...
). Collins never rated himself up with the super athletes of the astronaut corps like his fellow backup crew member
Ed WhiteEdward Higgins White, II was an engineer, United States Air Force officer and a NASA astronaut. On June 3 1965, he became the first American to conduct a spacewalk...
, but still tried to keep in shape, especially in the run up to
Gemini 7, when he could have been called upon to spend 14 days in space. He used to smoke heavily but during 1962 he had woken up with a terrible hangover and decided enough was enough. The next day he spent what he described as the worst four hours of his life in the right-hand seat of a bomber flicking switches while going through the initial stages of
nicotineNicotine is an alkaloid found in the nightshade family of plants which constitutes approximately 0.6–3.0% of dry weight of tobacco, with biosynthesis taking place in the roots, and accumulating in the leaves...
withdrawal.
Gemini 10
After the successful completion of
7, Collins was assigned to the prime crew of
Gemini 10Gemini 10 was a 1966 manned spaceflight in NASA's Gemini program. It was the 8th manned Gemini flight, the 16th manned American flight and the 24th spaceflight of all time .-Crew:-Backup crew:...
with John Young, with White moving onto
Project ApolloNASA's Apollo Program landed the first humans on Earth's moon. US President John F. Kennedy announced his support for a manned moon landing on May 25, 1961, as part of a special address to a joint session of Congress:...
. Their three-day mission called for them to rendezvous with two different
Agena Target VehicleThe Agena target vehicle was a spacecraft used by NASA during its Gemini program to develop and practice orbital space rendezvous and docking techniques in preparation for the Apollo program lunar missions....
s, undertake two EVAs, and perform fifteen different experiments. The training went smoothly, as the crew learned the intricacies of orbital rendezvous, controlling the Agena and, for Collins, EVA. For what was to be only the fourth ever EVA, underwater training was not undertaken, mostly because Collins just didn't have the time. To train to use the nitrogen gun he would use for propulsion, a super smooth metal surface about the size of a boxing ring was set up. He would stand on a circular pad that used gas jets to raise itself off the surface. Using the nitrogen gun he would practise propelling himself across the "slippery table". For the three day flight, Collins received $24.00 in travel reimbursement.
For his first EVA Collins did not leave the Gemini capsule, but stood up through the hatch with a device that resembled a sextant. In his biography he said he felt at that moment like a Roman god riding the skies in his chariot.
Apollo
Shortly after
Gemini 10, Collins was assigned to the backup crew for the second manned Apollo flight, with commander
Frank BormanFrank Frederick Borman, II is a retired NASA astronaut and engineer, best remembered as the Commander of Apollo 8, the first mission to fly around the Moon, making him, along with fellow crew mates Jim Lovell and Bill Anders, the first of only 24 humans to do so. He was also the chief executive...
, command module pilot (CMP)
Thomas StaffordThomas Patten Stafford is a retired Air Force Lieutenant General, a former NASA astronaut, and the first General Officer to fly into space. He is one of only 24 people to have flown to the Moon.-Background:...
and Collins as lunar module pilot (LMP). Along with learning the new
Apollo Command/Service ModuleThe Command/Service Module was a spacecraft built for NASA by North American Aviation. It was one of the two spacecraft that were utilized for the Apollo program, along with the Lunar Module, to land astronauts on the Moon. Together they were called the Apollo spacecraft...
(CSM) and the
Apollo Lunar ModuleThe Apollo Lunar Module was the lander portion of the Apollo spacecraft built for the US Apollo program by Grumman to achieve the transit from lunar orbit to the surface and back...
(LM), Collins received helicopter training, as these were thought to be the best way to simulate the landing approach of the LM. After the completion of
Project GeminiProject Gemini was the second human spaceflight program of NASA, the civilian space agency of the United States government. Project Gemini operated between Projects Mercury and Apollo, with 10 manned flights occurring in 1965 and 1966...
, it was decided to cancel the Apollo 2 flight, since it would just repeat the
Apollo 1 flight. In the process of crews being reassigned, Collins was moved to the CMP position, since his new crew was Borman, Collins and
William AndersWilliam Alison Anders is an engineer, former United States Air Force officer and NASA astronaut. He is, along with Apollo 8 crewmates Frank Borman and Jim Lovell, one of the first three persons to have left Earth orbit and traveled to the Moon .-Biography:Anders was born to Arthur Anders and...
.
Deke SlaytonDonald Kent “Deke” Slayton was one of the original NASA Mercury Seven astronauts. After initially being grounded by a heart condition, he served as NASA's Director of Flight Crew Operations, making him responsible for crew assignments at NASA from November 1963 until March 1972...
had decided that the CMP should have some spaceflight experience, something that Anders did not have. Three years later, this change would be the reason Michael Collins orbited the Moon while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on its surface.
Staff meetings were always held on Fridays in the astronaut office and it was here that Collins found himself on January 27, 1967. Don Gregory was running the meeting in the absence of
Alan ShepardAlan Bartlett Shepard, Jr. was the second person and the first American in space. He later commanded the Apollo 14 mission, and was the fifth person to walk on the moon....
and so it was he who answered the red phone to be informed that there was a fire in the
Apollo 1Apollo 1 is the official name that was retroactively assigned to the never-flown Apollo/Saturn 204 mission. Its command module was destroyed by fire during a test and training exercise on January 27 1967 at Pad 34 atop a Saturn IB rocket...
CM. When the enormity of the situation was ascertained, it fell on Collins to go the Chaffee household to tell Martha Chaffee that her husband was dead. The astronaut office had learned from the death of
Theodore FreemanTheodore Cordy Freeman was a NASA astronaut and a captain in the United States Air Force. He was killed in the crash of a T-38 jet. He was survived by his wife Faith Clark Freeman and one daughter, Faith Huntington.Freeman completed his secondary education in 1948...
in an aircraft crash, when a newspaper reporter was the first to his house.
Following the delays to training as Frank Borman took part in the fire investigation, the crew of what would become
Apollo 8Apollo 8 was the first human spaceflight mission to achieve a velocity sufficient to allow escape from the gravitational field of planet Earth; the first to be captured by and escape from the gravitational field of another celestial body; and the first crewed voyage to return to planet Earth from...
started back. It would be the first manned flight of the
Saturn VThe Saturn V was a multistage liquid-fuel expendable rocket used by NASA's Apollo and Skylab programs from 1967 until 1973. In total NASA launched thirteen Saturn V rockets with no loss of payload. It remains the largest and most powerful launch vehicle ever brought to operational status from a...
and only its third launch. They would use the
S-IVBThe S-IVB was built by the Douglas Aircraft Company and served as the third stage on the Saturn V and second stage on the Saturn IB. It had one J-2 engine...
third stage to boost them into a highly elliptical Earth orbit with a high point of 4000 miles.
During all this Collins and David Scott were sent by NASA to the
Paris Air ShowThe Paris Air Show is an international trade fair for the aerospace business...
in May 1967. There they met cosmonauts
Pavel BelyayevPavel Ivanovich Belyayev , , was a cosmonaut who flew on the historic Voskhod 2 mission....
and
Konstantin FeoktistovKonstantin Petrovich Feoktistov is a cosmonaut and space engineer.Feoktistov served in the Red Army in World War II and narrowly avoided death after being captured by the Wehrmacht. Commanded to stand at the edge of a pit, he was to be executed by firing squad along with other prisoners...
, with whom they drank vodka on the Soviet's
Tupolev Tu-134The Tupolev Tu-134 is a Soviet twin-engined airliner, similar to the American Douglas DC-9. One of the most widely used aircraft in the former Warsaw Pact countries, its number in active service is decreasing because of noise restrictions...
. Collins found it interesting that some cosmonauts were doing helicopter training like their American compatriots and Belyayev said that he hoped to make a circum-lunar flight soon. The astronauts' wives had accompanied them on the trip and Collins and his wife Pat were somewhat forced by NASA and their friends to travel to
MetzMetz is a city in the northeast of France, capital of the Lorraine region and prefecture of the Moselle department. It is located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers....
where they had been married ten years before. There they found a third wedding ceremony had been arranged (ten years previously they had already had civil and religious ceremonies).
Medical problems
During 1968, Collins noticed that his legs were not working as they should, first during
handballAmerican handball, usually referred to simply as handball, is a sport in which players hit a small rubber ball against one or more walls using their hands.- History :...
games, then as he walked down stairs, his knee would almost give way. His left leg also had unusual sensations when in hot and cold water. Reluctantly he sought medical advice and the diagnosis was a
cervicalIn anatomy, cervical is an adjective that has two meanings:# of or pertaining to any neck.# of or pertaining to the female cervix: i.e., the neck of the uterus.*Commonly used medical phrases involving the neck are...**cervical lymph nodes...
disc herniationA spinal disc herniation , informally and misleadingly called a "slipped disc", is a medical condition affecting the spine, in which a tear in the outer, fibrous ring of an intervertebral disc allows the soft, central portion to bulge out...
, requiring two
vertebraA vertebra is an individual bone in the flexible column that defines vertebrate animals, e.g. humans. The vertebral column encases and protects the spinal cord, which runs from the base of the cranium down the dorsal side of the animal until reaching the pelvis. From there, vertebra continue into...
e to be
fused togetherSpinal fusion, also known as spondylodesis or spondylosyndesis, is a surgical technique used to combine two or more vertebrae. Supplementary bone tissue is used in conjunction with the body's natural osteoblastic processes...
. The surgery was performed at the USAF
Wilford Hall HospitalWilford Hall Hospital is a United States Air Force hospital located on the grounds of Lackland Air Force Base. It is operated by the 59th Medical Wing....
at
Lackland Air Force BaseLackland Air Force Base is a base of the United States Air Force operated by the Air Education and Training Command . It is located just outside the city limits of the western area of San Antonio, Texas, USA. It was named after Brigadier General Frank Lackland.-Overview:Lackland AFB is the only...
, Texas and he spent three months in a neck brace. It also removed Collins from the crew of
Apollo 8Apollo 8 was the first human spaceflight mission to achieve a velocity sufficient to allow escape from the gravitational field of planet Earth; the first to be captured by and escape from the gravitational field of another celestial body; and the first crewed voyage to return to planet Earth from...
and moved
Jim LovellJames "Jim" Arthur Lovell, Jr., is a former NASA astronaut and a retired captain in the United States Navy, most famous as the commander of the Apollo 13 mission, which suffered an explosion en route to the Moon but was brought back safely to Earth by the efforts of the crew and mission control...
up to the prime crew. And the
Apollo 8 mission was changed from a CSM/LM in Earth orbit, to a CSM-only flight around the Moon.
Apollo 8
Having trained for the flight, Collins was made a CapCom, the only people who usually spoke to the crew during a mission. As part of the Mission Control's Green Team, he was responsible for the launch phase up to trans-lunar injection, the rocket burn that sent them to the Moon. The successful completion of the first manned circum-lunar flight was followed by the announcement of the
Apollo 11 crew of Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins. At the time in January 1969, it was not certain this would be the lunar landing crew with Apollos
9Apollo 9 was the first manned flight of the Command/Service Module along with the Lunar Module . Its three-person crew, consisting of Mission Commander Jim McDivitt, Command Module Pilot David Scott, and Lunar Module Pilot Rusty Schweickart tested several aspects critical to landing on the moon,...
and
10Apollo 10 was the fourth manned mission in the Apollo program. Its purpose was to be a "dry run" for the Apollo 11 mission, testing all of the procedures and components of a moon landing without actually landing on the Moon itself. The mission included the second crew to orbit the Moon and an...
still needing to be flown successfully.
Apollo 11
As CMP, Collins's training was completely different than for the CSM and was sometimes done without Armstrong or Aldrin being present. Along with simulators, there were size measurements for pressure suits, centrifuge training to simulate the 10
gThe g-force experienced by an object is its acceleration relative to free-fall. The term g-force is considered a misnomer, as g-force is not a force but an acceleration....
reentry, and practicing docking with a huge rig at
NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VirginiaLangley Research Center is the oldest of NASA's field centers, located in Hampton, Virginia, United States. It directly borders Poquoson, Virginia and Langley Air Force Base. LaRC focuses primarily on aeronautical research, though the Lunar Lander was flight-tested at this facility and a number...
, just to name a few. Since he would be the active participant in the rendezvous with the LM, Collins compiled a book of 18 different rendezvous schemes for different scenarios including where the LM didn't land, or launched too early or too late. This book ran for 117 pages.
The famous mission patch of
Apollo 11 was the creation of Collins. Jim Lovell, the backup commander, mentioned the idea of eagles, a symbol of the United States. Collins liked the idea and found a photo in a
National Geographic magazine, traced it and added the lunar surface below and Earth in the background. The idea of an olive branch, a symbol of peace, came from a computer expert at the simulators. The call sign
Columbia for the CSM came from Julian Scheer, the NASA Assistant Administrator for Public Affairs. He mentioned the idea to Collins in a conversation and Collins couldn't think of anything better.
It was during the training for
Apollo 11 that Collins told Deke Slayton that he didn't want to fly again. Slayton offered to get him back into the crew sequence after the flight, and according to Collins, this would probably have been as backup commander of
Apollo 14Apollo 14 was the eighth manned mission in the Apollo program and the third mission to land on the Moon. The nine-day mission was launched on January 31, 1971, with lunar touch down on February 5. The Lunar Module landed in the Fra Mauro formation; this had originally been the target of the...
followed by commander of
Apollo 17Apollo 17 was the eleventh manned space mission in the NASA Apollo program. It was the first night launch of a U.S. human spaceflight and the sixth and final lunar landing mission of the Apollo program. The mission was launched at 12:33 a.m. EST on December 7, 1972, and concluded on December 19. It...
.
During his day of solo flying around the Moon, Collins never felt lonely. Although it had been said that "not since Adam has any human known such solitude", Collins felt very much a part of the mission. In his autobiography he wrote that "this venture has been structured for three men, and I consider my third to be as necessary as either of the other two". During the 48 minutes of each orbit that he was out of radio contact with Earth, the feeling was not loneliness, but as "awareness, anticipation, satisfaction, confidence, almost exultation".
After spending so much time with the CSM, Collins felt compelled to leave his mark on her, so during the second night following their return from the Moon, he went to the lower equipment bay of the CM and wrote:
- "Spacecraft 107 — alias Apollo 11 — alias Columbia. The best ship to come down the line. God Bless Her. Michael Collins, CMP"
In a July 2009 interview with
The GuardianThe Guardian is a British daily newspaper owned by the Guardian Media Group. Founded in 1821, it is unique among major British newspapers in being owned by a foundation .The Guardian Weekly, which circulates worldwide, provides a compact digest of four newspapers...
, Collins revealed that he was very worried about Armstrong and Aldrin's safety.
Post-NASA activities
After being released from a 21-day quarantine, the crew were feted across the United States and around the world as part of a 45-day "Giant Leap" tour. Prior to this trip NASA administrator
Thomas O. PaineThomas Otten Paine , American scientist, was the third Administrator of NASA, serving from March 21, 1969 to September 15, 1970.-Early life, education, and family:...
had approached Collins and said that
Secretary of StateThe United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the President's Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence. The current Secretary of...
William P. RogersWilliam Pierce Rogers was an American politician, who served as a Cabinet officer in the administrations of two U.S. Presidents in the third quarter of the 20th century.-Biography:...
was interested in appointing Collins to the position of Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs. It wasn't until they returned to the U.S. in November that he sat down with Rogers and accepted the position on the urgings of Richard Nixon. In this position he was in charge of various areas including exhibitions, speeches and history.
A year later, Collins left this position to become director of the
National Air and Space MuseumThe National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution is a museum in Washington, D.C., United States, and is the most popular of the Smithsonian museums. It maintains the largest collection of aircraft and spacecraft in the world...
. He held this position until 1978 when he stepped down to become undersecretary of the
Smithsonian InstitutionThe Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its shops and its magazines...
. That same year he retired from the United States Air Force with the rank of
Major GeneralMajor General or Major-General is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of Sergeant Major General. A Major General is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of Lieutenant General and senior to the ranks of Brigadier and Brigadier General...
. In 1974 he attended the
Harvard Business SchoolHarvard Business School is a graduate business school in Boston, Massachusetts. The school offers a full-time MBA program, doctoral programs, as well as many . The School owns Harvard Business School Publishing, which publishes business books, online management tools for corporate learning, case...
and in 1980 became Vice President of
LTV AerospaceVought is the name of several related aerospace firms. These have included, in the past, Lewis and Vought Corporation, Chance Vought, Vought Sikorsky, LTV Aerospace , Vought Aircraft Companies, and the current Vought Aircraft Industries. The first incarnation of Vought was established by Chance M...
in Arlington, Virginia. He resigned in 1985 to start his own consulting firm, Michael Collins Associates.
Collins wrote an autobiography in 1974 entitled
Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut's Journeys. He has also written
Liftoff: The Story of America's Adventure in Space (1988), a history of the American space program,
Mission to Mars (1990), non-fiction book on human spaceflight to Mars, and
Flying to the Moon and Other Strange Places (1976). revised and re-released as
Flying to the Moon : An Astronaut's Story (1994), a children's book on his experiences. Along with his writing, he has painted watercolors mostly relating to his Florida Everglades home, or aircraft that he flew, and rarely are space-related. Until recently he did not sign his paintings to avoid them increasing in price just because they had his autograph on them. Collins was a long-time Trustee of the National Geographic Society and presently serves as Trustee Emeritus.
He has been awarded the
NASA Distinguished Service MedalThe NASA Distinguished Service Medal is the highest award which may be bestowed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the United States...
,
Air Force Distinguished Flying CrossThe Distinguished Flying Cross is a medal awarded to any officer or enlisted member of the United States armed forces who distinguishes himself or herself in support of operations by "heroism or extraordinary achievement while participating in an aerial flight, subsequent to November 11, 1918." The...
,
Air Force Command Pilot Astronaut WingsThe Astronaut Badge is a badge of the United States, awarded to military and civilian pilots who have completed training and performed a successful spaceflight...
, and the
Presidential Medal of FreedomThe Presidential Medal of Freedom is a decoration bestowed by the President of the United States and is, along with theequivalent Congressional Gold Medal bestowed by an act of U.S. Congress, the highest civilian award in the U.S...
. Together with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, he received the
Collier TrophyThe Collier Trophy is an annual aviation award administered by the U.S. National Aeronautics Association , presented to those who have made "the greatest achievement in aeronautics or astronautics in America, with respect to improving the performance, efficiency, and safety of air or space...
in 1969 and the
Hubbard MedalThe Hubbard Medal is awarded by the National Geographic Society for distinction in exploration, discovery, and research. The medal is named for Gardiner Greene Hubbard, first National Geographic Society president.-Recipients:...
of the National Geographic Society in 1970. The
International Astronomical UnionThe International Astronomical Union is a collection of professional astronomers, at the Ph.D. level and beyond, active in professional research and education in astronomy...
honored him by naming an asteroid after him,
6471 Collins6471 Collins is a Main-belt Asteroid discovered on March 04, 1983 by Mrkos, A. at Klet.It is named after the Apollo 11 command module pilot Michael Collins.- External links :*...
. Also, like the other two Apollo 11 crew members, there is a
lunar craterCollins is a tiny lunar impact crater located on the southern part of the Mare Tranquillitatis. It is located about 25 kilometers to the north of the Apollo 11 landing site. Named after Michael Collins, the crater is the central member of the row of three craters named in honor of the Apollo 11...
named after him.
Collins lives with his wife, Pat, in
Marco Island, FloridaOriginally named San Marco Island by Spanish explorers, Marco Island is a city in Collier County, Florida, United States. The city is an island on the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Southwest Florida. It is a principal city of the Naples–Marco Island Metropolitan Statistical Area...
, and
Avon, North CarolinaAvon is a place in Kinnakeet Township, Dare County in the State of North Carolina in the United States of America. It is located at latitude 35°21'7" North, longitude 75°30'39" West, which is south of Salvo and north of Buxton on Hatteras Island...
.
Carrying the Fire is dedicated to her.
Collins is one of the astronauts featured in the documentary
In the Shadow of the MoonIn the Shadow of the Moon is a 2006 British documentary film about the United States' manned missions to the Moon. It premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the World Cinema Audience Award. In March 2008, it was the first film to win the Sir Arthur Clarke Award for Best Film...
. He also contributed to the
bookIn the Shadow of the Moon: A Challenging Journey to Tranquility is a 2007 non-fiction book by space historians Francis French and Colin Burgess...
of the same name. In 1989, some of his personal papers were transferred to
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State UniversityVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, better known as Virginia Tech, is a public land grant polytechnic university in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States...
.
In popular culture
English rock group
Jethro TullJethro Tull are a British rock group formed in 1967. Their music is characterised by the songs, vocals and flute work of Ian Anderson, who has led the band since its founding, and guitarist Martin Barre, who has been with the band since 1969....
has a song "For Michael Collins, Jeffrey and Me" which appears on the
BenefitBenefit is the third album by Jethro Tull. It was released in April 1970. It was the first album to feature John Evan on keyboards , and the last to feature Glenn Cornick on bass guitar. It achieved number 3 in the UK album charts...
album from 1970. The song compares the feelings of misfitting from vocalist
Ian AndersonIan Scott Anderson, MBE is a Scottish singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, best known for his work as the head of British rock band Jethro Tull.-Early life:...
(and friend
Jeffrey HammondJeffrey Hammond was a bass guitar player for the progressive rock band Jethro Tull....
) with the astronaut's own, as he is left behind by the ones who had the privilege to walk on the surface of the moon.
The main antagonist 'Friend' in the manga
20th Century Boysis a science fiction mystery manga created by Naoki Urasawa. It won the 2001 Kodansha Manga Award in the General category, an Excellence Prize at the 2002 Japan Media Arts Festival, and the 2003 Shogakukan Manga Award in the General category. The last two volumes of the story were serialized under...
describes himself as Collins when asked for his true identity. This is supposed to mean he has been forgotten, even though he grew up with the rest of the characters, not unlike the way Collins isn't as well known to the general population as the other members of the Apollo 11 flight.
The
mockumentaryMockumentary or mock documentary is a genre of film and television, or a single work of the genre. Although a mockumentary may be one of the comedy genres, serious mockumentaries also exist. The mockumentary is presented as a documentary recording real life, but is actually fictional. It is a...
Opération luneDark Side of the Moon is a French mockumentary by director William Karel which originally aired on Arte in 2002 with the title Opération Lune. The basic premise for the film is the theory that the television footage from the Apollo 11 Moon landing was faked and actually recorded in a studio by the...
briefly claims Michael Collins to be so deeply disappointed by not having set foot on the moon that he allegedly has retired from any public life and that his current whereabouts are supposed to be unknown.
Swedish writer/illustrator Bea Uusma Schyffert has written the children's book
The Man Who Went to the Far Side of the Moon: The Story of Apollo 11 Astronaut Michael Collins (Chronicle Books, 2003) (original title:
Astronauten som inte fick landa, Alfabeta, 2000).
In the 1996 TV movie
Apollo 11Apollo 11 was a made-for-TV movie which aired on November 17, 1996. It was nominated for Primetime Emmy....
, Collins was played by
Jim MetzlerJim Metzler is an American television and film actor, best known for guest-appearances on popular TV series. In 1983, he received a Golden Globe nomination for his supporting role in the 1982 film Tex....
. In the 1998 HBO miniseries
From the Earth to the Moon, he was played by
Cary ElwesIvan Simon Cary Elwes , known professionally as Cary Elwes, is a British actor, known for his performances in The Princess Bride; Robin Hood: Men in Tights; Hot Shots!; Glory; Liar, Liar; Saw and Twister....
. In the 2009 TV movie
Moon shotMoon Shot is a 2009 film depicting the story leading up to the landing of Apollo 11 on the surface of the Moon on July 20, 1969.- Cast :* James Marsters: Buzz Aldrin* Andrew Lincoln: Michael Collins* Ursula Burton: Marilyn Lovell...
, he was played by
Andrew LincolnAndrew Lincoln is an English actor, known for his roles in the TV series This Life , Teachers and Afterlife. He also played the role of Mark in the film Love Actually.-Early life:...
.
External links