Born Rome, Italy, October 31, 1930. Graduate United
States Military Academy 1952. Test pilot, Air Force
Flight Test Center. Entered Astronaut Corps 1963. Highly
dedicated to every undertaking, skills honed to perfection,
selected with his fellow crew members as the most qualified
of astronauts to participate in the momentous Apollo
expedition.
Veteran of the 1966 Gemini X mission as pilot, performed
successful rendezvous and docking with an Agena spacecraft,
and two extravehicular space walks.
On the Apoll XI flight, while astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin
walked the moon's surface, Michael Collins maintained a precise
lunar orbit overhead, flying the Columbia alone. The perfection
and skill with which he performed this mission, recovered the
"Eagle", returning the orbiter to safe landing on Earth, were
vital to success of the flight.
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