Michael Collins, Apollo 11 astronaut, has died at 90

CBS News ^ | April 28, 2021 | Alex Sundby

[NeverTyranny]

My favorite. This makes me sad as we are losing TRUE Americans. If you have not, read “Carrying the Fire” by Collins. My favorite Apollo book. It’s a fantastic account from the guy who stayed in orbit around the Moon while waiting for Armstrong and Aldrin to return from the first Moon walk. Rest in peace, Sir. And thank you for your service.

[basalt]

i was always amazed these guys sat on the top on a Saturn V rocket....talk about brass nads....geez...

[Hulka]

Imagine his torment if Armstrong and Buzz were marooned on the moon and Collins had to leave them behind.

Hero’s, all!

[BiglyCommentary]

I’ve been to the Mission Control room (old one) in Houston many times and always treat it hallowed ground. The Apollo project represents to me the singular best of America in my liftime.

[BiglyCommentary]

Yes, strapped ongo a million pounds of KABOOM. lol

[oh8eleven]

i was always amazed these guys sat on the top on a Saturn V rocket.

I always thought I was brave joining the Marines.
That was nothing compared to what these guys did.

[rlmorel]

I got a chance to see Michael Collins in person some years back.

When I went out to Oshkosh in July 1994, it was the 25th Anniversary of the Moon Landing. In an outdoor pavilion close to the runway they set a record for attendance at an Apollo 11 anniversary event that year that had 10,000 people attend. I must say, I had no conception there were that many people sitting out on the grass around the pavilion as my buddy and I showed up early and got great seats inside about halfway to the stage. It was a beautiful summer night, and the pavilion was open on all sides.

If I recall correctly, there were 15 of the Apollo astronauts there including the entire Apollo 11 crew (an apparent rarity, since Neil Armstrong apparently didn’t do many appearances) and for several hours, they all sat on the stage at the front, getting up in front of the microphone, and spinning yarns…it was amazing! Totally unfiltered, almost as if you were in a small room, just you and them, having a beer!

They told stories about Gemini and Apollo, one stuck out, Jim Lovell (I think) spoke about spending time in the cramped Gemini capsule with Frank Borman, who had a legendary gas problem! There was a lot of laughing there!

But the one thing that stayed in my memory after all these years…the sun had gone down, it was dark out, and the astronauts were taking turns telling stories, and right in the middle of one astronaut (I can’t remember who it was) telling his tale, there came a great roar behind us, being close to the runway as the picture below shows (red arrow-I “think” that is the pavilion, though I wonder if they built a more modern one with more capacity somewhere on the grounds...perhaps another Freeper with better memory can tell me if that is the pavilion they used back in the Nineties...). I photoshopped a distorted Concorde in there to show how excellently close it was!)

Every single person in that crowd turned in unison, to see a Concorde SST taking off in full afterburner on the darkened runway, all four engines screaming in an ear-splitting roar, spitting out huge tongues of bright blue flame what seemed hundreds of feet behind the plane speeding down the runway! Everyone completely ignored this astronaut up on the stage getting his chance to tell a story, but instead of him being put out about it, he could be heard to encourage the audience to turn around and watch: “Go ahead and watch! We are aviation enthusiasts up here too, and we are watching!”

There was something just beautiful about that. These were men who had made a living flying planes, had gone to the moon, but in the end…they were just like us, like a kid in a back yard watching with upturned eyes, some Piper Cub or jet airliner flying over! How I love that memory!

RIP, Mr. Collins. Thank you.

[MrLucky1966]

I hope some of them will still be here to see us return to the moon.

Me too, I'd love to see how they react and think as we go back to the Moon. What is interesting is that there were three astronauts that flew to the Moon twice. Two of them landed on their second flight, John Young and Eugene Cernan from Apollo 10, Apollo 16 and 17 respectively. The last one, Jim Lovell, to me, he is the ultimate minority group, he made two trips to the Moon, Apollo 8 and 13 but never landed, the only one to do so.

I've met Lovell's nephew when I was a clerk as Macy's. For some reason I needed to see ID, store policy, and saw he was from Huntsville Alabama and his last name was Lovell. I asked for craps and giggle, you related to Jim Lovell, the astronaut, and he said, "yes, that's my uncle."

[Az Joe]

Nice tale.

And to think these guys were in their mid-late 30s and early 40s when they went to, walked on, the Moon. Seems young now.

[SaxxonWoods]

See, they told us way back in the 60’s that astronauts would die!!!

Just like they told us the currency would collapse, we were heading into an ice age, and we were going to run out of all raw materials!

But do people listen?

No!

[MrLucky1966]

Imagine his torment if Armstrong and Buzz were marooned on the moon and Collins had to leave them behind.

That would be one decision that would be so tough to make. God forbid, if Armstrong and Aldrin crashed and died, well, the decision would be easier, life goes on, but to leave them stranded as per your scenario, if it was me it would haunt me to this day even if it was the only thing to do.

[rlmorel]

My gosh. Yes. When you put it like that...I felt...old!

[x]

Called the "loneliest man in the solar system" or something like that when Armstrong and Aldrin were on the moon and he was circling around it.

His father, uncle, and brother were Army generals (he became a general in the Air Force Reserve) and his daughter was on All My Children. One of her characters was the insane "Janet from Another Planet." Sort of fitting for an astronaut's daughter.

[MrLucky1966]

I’ve been to the Mission Control room (old one) in Houston many times and always treat it hallowed ground. The Apollo project represents to me the singular best of America in my liftime.

Unless we reverse our decline in the US and Western World, I consider the Moon Landings as our Opus. It was also the Opus that the WWII Generation gave us.

[rlmorel]

I was watching this in the bottom floor of our house in Subic Bay in the Philippines, but I have a memory of it being a blazing hot sunny day, and a bunch of us watching it on a small black and white TV, and the screen looked like a white smear moving around on various parts of the black background...

Funny, I was trying to match up the time, and it was saying that the moon landing took place at 3:17 PM Eastern Time, and when I thought about it, I thought “Crap. My memory must be SOOO screwed up! I VIVIDLY remember the hot sun outside, but...it would have been 03:17 AM...that cannot be right! My brain is fried! Aggghhhh!”

Then I remembered the LANDING was at 3:17 PM ET, but they didn’t do the moon walk until six hours later (or something like that) so it would have been 10:00 AM my time in the Philippines!

Whew!

[Ratman0823]

Those Apollo 11 guys were my heroes back then.

Heck, most of those Apollo astronauts are STILL my heroes. Got to meet Alan Bean from Apollo 12 when the USS Hornet did a moon landing exhibit in 2009, the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11. A real down-to-earth man, as were most of the astronauts and backup crews that attended the event.

Maybe it's prophetic that I'm wearing my "Failure is not an Option" T-shirt today. Although to be honest, it's been my motto the past few weeks as I'm recovering from some recent medical issues.

[Bigg Red]

Nice memories. And so well recounted. Thank you.

[353FMG]

Peak America to me are the Trump golden years. We foolishly allowed them to be stolen from us.

[dadfly]

thx for the great story.

my dad, the USAF master sgt who served in three wars, and who probably took care of some of these guys planes personally, would have loved it.

[Shadylake]

It’ll be a real shame if all the Apollo era guys are dead before we got back to the moon. I sure hope Artemis works out.