Michael Collins died on April 28, 2021 at the age of 90. He was one of the third group of astronauts chosen for NASA in 1963, the fourth person in the world to perform a spacewalk while on Gemini 10 (pronounced je-mi-nee in space-talk) in 1966 and most known, but probably criminally-overlooked, for his role as command module pilot of Apollo 11 in 1969.
In the collection of prefaces before the book begins, there are three in the 50th anniversary edition, Collins touches on what Apollo 11 and his time with NASA meant to him from three points in his life. In the rest of the book, Collins paints the picture of his journey into the space program clearly and intentionally on the light side. He’s NASA’s poet laureate and always pushed for English to be included in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) learning. He painted watercolors and fished in Florida with his time after retiring and has written about NASA journeying to Mars.
This book and the Michael Collins story is for the people who think George Harrison was the greatest Beatle. If reading isn’t your thing, you can download the audio version of the book for free when you sign up for Audible. There are also some great programs on PBS right now documenting NASA and the Apollo missions, including Chasing the Moon, if you prefer to sit in front of a screen and learn.
His death comes at one of the highlights of the American space program as the first flight was finally completed on another planet with the first mission of Ingenuity and continued success of missions earlier this week.
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Michael Collins is an American hero and should be remembered forever. Think about it: Blasted off so high in a rocket, he dropped his friends off at the moon and orbited alone for 28 hours. If you’re looking for a safe-word when you accidentally eat the gummy bears from that trip to Denver and you’re out in public, say his name and your friends or significant other will understand. Not that this is written from experience or anything, but it’s a good way to keep the third--and possibly most essential--member of Apollo 11 in our memories.
