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Michael Collins



Michael Collins

Michael Collins
MICHAEL COLLINS
U.S. Astronaut
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.
Elected to the International Aerospace Hall of Fame 1971