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Michael Collins (astronaut)

Michael Collins (born October 31, 1930) was an astronaut in the Gemini and Apollo space programs. He attended St. Albans School in his youth.

He flew on the Apollo 11 mission, the first lunar landing. On this mission Collins was the Command Module pilot who orbited the Moon while his colleagues Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed and walked on the lunar surface. He was described, at that time, as "the loneliest person on or off the planet" - when the Command Module was on the opposite side of the moon, he was at least two thousand miles away from his fellow astronauts, and over two hundred thousand from the rest of the population back on Earth.

Prior to this, he flew on Gemini 10. On this flight he and his shipmate John Young set a new record for the highest flight, 475 miles above the Earth. Collins walked in space on this mission.

He wrote a book, Carrying the Fire [ISBN 1885283148], about his experiences as an astronaut.

There is a small crater on the Moon near the Apollo 11 landing site that is named in his honor.

He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Last updated: 05-16-2005 15:08:14