Michael Collins, the 'forgotten astronaut' of Apollo 11 dies, age 90

Sometimes referred to as the "forgotten" member of the historic Apollo 11 mission — Michael Collins never got to walk on the moon, but has been hailed as a "true pioneer."

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' pass

ing, 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 allimportant border would be invisible, that noisy argument silenced."

rs/sms (AP, Reuters)

US astronaut Michael Collins piloted the spacecraft on the Apollo 11 mission that first saw humans walk on the moon