Michael Collins

Michael Collins (1930–2021) was born in Rome and became an American astronaut and US Air Force test pilot. In July 1969 he flew the command module Columbia around the Moon on Apollo 11 while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made the first crewed landing on its surface. He had earlier made two spacewalks on Gemini 10 in 1966. He later served as director of the National Air and Space Museum in Washington. He died in April 2021, aged 90. He joined NASA in 1963.

Born: 31 October 1930
Died: 28 April 2021
Country: United States
Flights: 2: Gemini 10 (1966), Apollo 11 (1969)
Time in space: 11 days 2 hours

Data as of 2 November 2026. Source: Wikidata (CC0). All people who have flown in space.

Events

16 July 1969

Apollo 11
- Apollo spacecraft, Saturn V
- Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins
Apollo 11 was NASA's first attempt to land people on the Moon, and it worked. The Saturn V that launched it, the lunar module that landed and the command module that came home were the full stack of the Apollo programme, flown by a crew of three.
4 videos
- Vox
- Primal Space
- Progress – Science Documentaries