The 11 pilots left alone as man walked on the moon

I’VE just watched the rather excellent All Or Nothing series, which folowed the L. A. Rams American football team for a season.

It detailed their move from St Louis back to Los Angeles.

Have any other NFL teams changed their home cities? – V.

The Rams moved back to L. A. after 21 seasons in St Louis, having moved there in 1995.

Teams changing cities is a fairly common occurence in the NFL, and American sports in general.

The first football team to move was the Deacatur Staleys, who moved to Chicago in 1921 and renamed themselves the Chicago Bears.

This season, the former San Diego Chargers will join the Rams in L. A. and become the L. A. Chargers.

I ENJOYED last week’s query about Apollo 11 astronaut, Neil Armstrong.

Everyone knows he and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon, but it was a three-man mission.

Michael Collins was left alone in the Command Module, orbiting the moon as his two crew-mates made history.

However, did Collins, or any other Command Module pilots, ever get to set foot on the lunar surface? – M.

There have been 11 Command Module pilots, from Apollo 7-17.

They were, in order, Donn Eisele, James Lovell, David Scott, John Young, Michael Collins, Richard Gordon, Jack Swigert, Stuart Roosa, Alfred Worden, Ken Mattingly and Ronald Evans.

Of these, only two ever walked on the surface of the moon, David Scott, who was Commander of Apollo 15 in 1971, and John Young, Apollo 16 Commander the following year. Both spent almost three days on the surface.

James Lovell, Apollo 8 Command Module pilot, was due to land on the moon as Commander of Apollo 13, but that mission was abandoned after an explosion crippled the craft.

Michael Collins spent an entire day on his own as Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the moon.

He later revealed he wasn’t lonely, but he was worried about Armstrong and Aldrin’s safety. He was also concerned that, in the event of their deaths on the Moon, he would be forced to return to Earth alone and, as the mission’s sole survivor, be regarded as “a marked man for life”.