APOLLO 11 PIONEER IS DEAD AT 90
Michael Collins stayed in orbit as Armstrong and Aldrin walked on Moon
He was the astronaut who stayed behind while his comrades became the first men to walk on the Moon.
Michael Collins, who piloted the command module that remained in space while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took their steps into the history books in 1969, has died aged 90 after a ‘valiant battle with cancer’.
Collins circled the Moon aboard the Columbia module before bringing all three astronauts back to earth. At one point, he lost contact with both the earth and the other two men.
Much of the mission was spent fearing what could happen if his two colleagues did not return from the lunar surface.
He once said: ‘We came along at exactly the right time. We survived hazardous careers and were successful in them. But in my own case at least, it was 10 per cent shrewd planning and 90 per cent blind luck. Put Lucky on my tombstone.’
Neil Armstrong died on August 25, 2012, while Buzz Aldrin is 91 and lives in Florida. Yesterday he tweeted a tribute and a picture of three Apollo astronauts.
A statement from the Collins family said: ‘He spent his final days peacefully, with his family by his side. Mike always faced the challenges of life with grace and humility, and faced this, his final challenge, in the same way. We will honor his wish for us to celebrate, not mourn, that life.’
Nasa tweeted: ‘We mourn the passing of Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins, who piloted humanity’s first voyage to the surface of another world. An advocate for exploration, he inspired generations and his legacy propels us further into the cosmos.’
Before his space career, Collins served in the US Air Force in the 1950s and 60s, gaining more than 3,000 hours of flying time.
He married Patricia Finnegan in 1957, and the couple stayed together until her death in 2014. They had three children.
He was successful at his second attempt of joining Nasa in 1962, and his first flight as an astronaut was aboard Gemini 10. On that mission, he became the fourth person to conduct a spacewalk.
But his career-defining trip came when he was assigned the job of command module pilot for Apollo 11. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1969 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 2011.