Michael Collins, Apollo 11 astronaut who never set foot on the moon, has died

At 90 and after a long battle with cancer, he died Michael collins, one of the crew of Apollo 11, the only one not to have set foot on the moon.

Collins was part of the historic NASA mission that reached the moon in 1969. But while his two fellow travelers, Neil Armastrong and Buzz Aldrin, were able to get off the ship and walk on lunar soil, It was Collins who remained in control of the transport module while awaiting the return of the two.

“Today our nation has lost a pioneer and a man who dedicated his life to space exploration,” NASA Administrator Steve Jurczyk reported.

As the pilot of the Apollo 11 command module, some called him “the loneliest man in history.” While his companions walked on the moon, he worked together to make our nation achieve a historic goal, ”he added. “Minchael was a tireless promoter of space exploration for which I did not consider an option but an imperative“.

“Mike has always faced life’s challenges with grace and humility, and he faced this, his latest challenge, in the same way,” the Collins family wrote on their official Twitter account.

In the statement, the family emphasized “his lively mind, his serene sense of duty and his gaze of wisdom acquired by returning to Earth from space and observing the calm waters from his fishing boat ”.

Despite his age, Collins was still in recent years the busiest of Apollo veterans, and the one who most poetically evoked his memories of the lunar adventure.

“When we left and saw her oh what an amazing sphereHe told Washington in 2019, on the occasion of the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the space milestone.

“The sun was behind him, so it was illuminated by a golden circle that made the craters really weird, due to the contrast between the whitest of whites and the blackest of blacks.”

“As splendid and impressive as it was, it was nothing compared to what we saw through the other window,” he continued. “There was that little polka dot the size of your fingernail with an outstretched arm, such a beautiful little thing wrapped in the black velvet of the rest of the universe.O “.

“I said to the control center: ‘Houston, I see the world in my window’“.

Born October 31, 1930 in Rome to a diplomatic father, Collins became a test pilot for the US Army.

In the 1960s, he accumulated many hours of flight time in space, especially during the Gemini missions.

The only Apollo 11 crew member who did not walk on the Earth satellite said he had no bitterness about it.

Like Aldrin and Armstrong, Collins quickly left NASA after the triumphant return to Earth and pursued a prolific public career.

Had been named Under Secretary of State for Public Affairs by President Richard Nixon. He then directed the construction of the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, assuming his presidency between 1971 and 1978.

He then became a consultant and wrote books related to space adventure.

With information from AFP

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