'Forgotten Astronaut' Michael Collins Dies (npr.org) 46
An astronaut who flew on one of the most famous space missions of all time has died. From a report: Michael Collins, 90, was part of the three-member crew on Apollo 11, the first lunar landing mission in 1969. Unlike Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, he never walked on the moon. Collins stayed behind and piloted the command module as it circled above. Because of that, Collins is often called the 'forgotten astronaut'. Collins had been battling cancer. In a statement released by his family, "He spent his final days peacefully, with his family by his side. Mike always faced the challenges of life with grace and humility, and faced this, his final challenge in the same way."
NASA Administrator Steve Jurczyk said the nation lost a true pioneer, "NASA mourns the loss of this accomplished pilot and astronaut, a friend of all who seek to push the envelope of human potential. Whether his work was behind the scenes or on full view, his legacy will always be as one of the leaders who took America's first steps into the cosmos. And his spirit will go with us as we venture toward farther horizons." When Neil Armstrong first stepped on the moon and uttered the famous phrase, "Houston, Tranquility Base here, the Eagle has landed," Collins was in orbit, 60 miles above, just as busy, and just as excited, telling the team back in Houston he was listening to communications with his comrades, and it was "fantastic." Aldrin and Armstrong were on the lunar surface just under 22 hours. The world was transfixed. Seeing them bunny-hop along, take pictures and collect lunar samples during their single, short moonwalk. All the while, Collins circled the moon. Looking down at the barren lunar landscape and peering back at the Earth. "The thing I remember most is the view of planet Earth from a great distance," he said later. "Tiny. Very shiny. Blue and white. Bright. Beautiful. Serene and fragile."
NASA Administrator Steve Jurczyk said the nation lost a true pioneer, "NASA mourns the loss of this accomplished pilot and astronaut, a friend of all who seek to push the envelope of human potential. Whether his work was behind the scenes or on full view, his legacy will always be as one of the leaders who took America's first steps into the cosmos. And his spirit will go with us as we venture toward farther horizons." When Neil Armstrong first stepped on the moon and uttered the famous phrase, "Houston, Tranquility Base here, the Eagle has landed," Collins was in orbit, 60 miles above, just as busy, and just as excited, telling the team back in Houston he was listening to communications with his comrades, and it was "fantastic." Aldrin and Armstrong were on the lunar surface just under 22 hours. The world was transfixed. Seeing them bunny-hop along, take pictures and collect lunar samples during their single, short moonwalk. All the while, Collins circled the moon. Looking down at the barren lunar landscape and peering back at the Earth. "The thing I remember most is the view of planet Earth from a great distance," he said later. "Tiny. Very shiny. Blue and white. Bright. Beautiful. Serene and fragile."
Rest in Peace (Score:5, Informative)
Even though he didn't walk on the moon, he accomplished much during his life.
I think his book "Carrying the Fire" is one of the best by any astronaut.
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Nice FP, I concur, and I'm strongly considering the book you recommended. (But not a genre I read that often.)
Re:Rest in Peace (Score:5, Informative)
You won't be disappointed. Written by a humble man with a gift for words, it is one of, if not the best, astronaut memoirs ever written.
Re: Rest in Peace (Score:3)
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Carrying the Fire is widely considered to be the best astronaut autobiography.
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I think his book "Carrying the Fire" is one of the best by any astronaut.
It is such a great read and I always recommend it to anyone interested in spaceflight, or even flight, for that matter.
Re:Rest in Peace (Score:5, Insightful)
For Armstrong and Aldrin while on the moon, Michael Collins was the most important and trusted human being they had.
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I think his book "Carrying the Fire" is one of the best by any astronaut.
It's a well-written book that describes in enough detail for an informed reader the engineering, scientific, physiometrics and medical, and psychological work that had to take place in order to do what they did. I read it a couple years ago and passed it forward to other engineers, and so far everyone has raved about it.
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This one ain't bad either
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Dupe tomorrow. (Score:2)
Slashdot will never forget.
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Could just be the wrong age too.
Mod Parent up (Score:2)
I feel compelled to say (Score:2, Interesting)
Spending your final days peacefully with family is generally a code phrase for dying of thirst, too weak and delirious to move. I hope you are never faced with incurable illness, but if you are, do not under any circumstances allow yourself to die peacefully with your family at your side. I have seen it and I do not wish it on anyone.
Not always (Score:3)
My mother passed away at home from cancer three years ago - she was appropriately medicated (minimal pain and no delirium) and my father had lots of help.
I know a lot of people don't have great things to say about Canadian health care, but I was really astonished at how good, caring and appropriate the government provided services were - https://www.health.gov.on.ca/e... [gov.on.ca]
It was really a case of somebody passing peacefully with their family at home.
Re:I feel compelled to say (Score:4, Insightful)
Spending your final days peacefully with family is generally a code phrase for dying of thirst, too weak and delirious to move. I hope you are never faced with incurable illness, but if you are, do not under any circumstances allow yourself to die peacefully with your family at your side. I have seen it and I do not wish it on anyone.
Me too and not really or there are exceptions. My wife Sue was in a coma for a week before she died in Jan 2006 of a brain tumor. She wasn't even in much pain the six weeks prior since she had been diagnosed. It was all pretty quiet and peaceful through the end -- though my heart was silently breaking the entire time. I was holding her when she died; I heard her last breath and felt her last heartbeat. Remember Sue... [tumblr.com]
One of the most isolated people ever (Score:5, Insightful)
As pointed out by XKCD: https://what-if.xkcd.com/72/ [xkcd.com] due to the fact that he went to the far side of the moon alone he is/was in a more select group than Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. 12 people have walked on the moon, but only 5 others (=on a similar trip alone around the moon) have been as isolated (in the sense of distance to closest human - at least likely) as Michael Collins
Rest in peace Michael.
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I wonder why he stopped making those. The What-ifs are better than the comics which have gotten progressively lazier since last year. I get it that covid has kept people locked up and has probably been a drag on inspiration but its been awhile since I got a good chuckle from an xkcd comic.
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I wonder why he stopped making those.
Because they take a lot of research, and he's written a few books, which take up time. Probably any future non-comic work would be a book now.
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It mentions the 6 CMPs for the landings. John Young is always forgotten. He was the first man to fly solo around the moon.
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But John Young had a long career in space, landed on the moon in Apollo 16, and commanded the first shuttle mission, so he wasn't forgotten
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They clearly don't like their job, and don't want to do it well.
So WHY do they keep doing it ?!
I remember this guy... (Score:5, Interesting)
Mike came to my school back when I was in 8th grade. I don't remember his talk, but afterwards he was walking out when I was walking out and I asked him starstruck and excitedly, "did you REALLY go to the moon??" He was looking at the ground kinda sad, and said yes. He seemed very un-charismatic at that moment, and I remembered that forever.
I took away from that that doing important, amazing things in life doesn't always make you famous or bring accolades. Those things are nontheless still amazing and important. Don't put your value in what others think.
Apparently not as forgotten as Philip Chapman (Score:2)
Chapman was on Apollo 14 and passed away a couple weeks ago. A little more controversial history.
Re:Apparently not as forgotten as Philip Chapman (Score:5, Funny)
This is because 14 is probably the most boring number ever invented. It is not prime nor has a large number of divisors like 12. This is not a lucky or unlucky number. I do not even remember the last time I used 14. Go in a shop and try to find an item with a price of $14. You won't find any. I think that 14 is a scam invented by scientists because they needed something to fit between 13 and 15.
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Really? Chapman was on 14???? That would have been news to Al Shepard, Stu Roosa, and Ed Mitchell.
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Chapman was on the *SUPPORT CREW* for Apollo 14, not the main crew, not even the backup crew.
Support crew was responsible for dealing with whatever the main crew or backup crew couldn't get to (like meetings and stuff.
Last Man Alone (Score:2)
Michael was also the last man to be alone. Truly alone - out of touch with all humanity, swinging around the back side of the Moon in a little tin can. Wow! A sailor on a boat at Point Nemo (looking at you Tania Aebi) probably has a radio, a mountain climber probably has one too. Anyone in an airplane is seen on somebodies radar. All the cameras on our houses and roads. But Mr. Collins? Nope, none of that. Even back in his day (1969), we had very good satellites and unless you really tried to hide, humanity
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Collins' accidental haiku? (Score:3)
Looking down at the barren lunar landscape and peering back at the Earth. "The thing I remember most is the view of planet Earth from a great distance," he said later. "Tiny. Very shiny. Blue and white. Bright. Beautiful. Serene and fragile."
Change one word...
Earth. Very shiny.
Blue and white. Bright. Beautiful.
Serene and fragile.
Role Model (Score:5, Interesting)
I mention Michael Collins a lot to my kids. Imagine if you got in a rocket and went all the way to the moon, but didn't get to land! How do you think he felt when he was all alone? Do you think he was scared? Jealous? How do you think you'd feel?
I try to explain that some jobs are really important even if they're not the ones that get you fame. I hope they learn that being part of a team, working together, doing your job well, helping others do their jobs well, sharing recognition, and celebrating each other is important.
Re:Role Model (Score:5, Informative)
I've worked with a couple of Astronauts over my career (Mario Runco and Jeff Hoffman), and they were great guys to work with. Not flashy, not full of themselves, just solid hard working guys who were supremely intelligent and very lucky. They always emphasized the importance of the team in being successful.
That said, the Astronaut I'm probably most in awe of is John Young. Over his career, he piloted Gemini (twice), Apollo CM once, Apollo LM once, and Space Shuttle (twice, STS-1 and STS-9). What an incredible career.
Did his job, but... (Score:2)
I remember some years ago seeing an interview with Michael Collins. He talked about how he did his job, how he was part of a team, etc. etc. etc. But you could tell from the look in his eyes that he would have sold his soul to be in the LM.
...laura
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Far from "forgotten". Shame on you. (Score:1)
I can name about 10 astronauts. Michael Collins is one of them.
He is a pretty well-known astronaut, far from a "forgotten" one.
A cheap and inaccurate headline.
That wait to see if they'd come back (Score:4, Interesting)
I was surprised, decades later, to see Collins interviewed and hear that he, himself, who could hardly have been better informed about all the technical details, figured it was about 50/50 whether they'd get back to him.
He only raised that opinion with them years later, and they told him they'd figured much higher odds. (I think another interview, either Aldrin or Armstrong threw out out a figure of 80%?)
You'd think they wouldn't go at all with odds like the latter, much less the former, but they all did. And Apollo 13 really did highlight how dodgy the entire enterprise was. I think that the Apollo program was terminated early (no Apollo 18 or 19, they had been planned at first) not just because they'd done the get-there-first and saw public interest dropping after 14, but because they wanted to finish it before somebody did die up there, creating the question of what moon flight #8 and #9 were even for.
Guess I was just lucky... (Score:2)
. . . . I met all three, over the years. Then again, the poster of the Apollo 11 Crew in front of the Moon (a painting) was a fixture on my wall from 4th Grade until well into my 30s. . .
Of the three, Dr. Aldrin was by far the most memorable, and we crossed paths several times, over the years. I even have an autographed copy of one of his novels, from the late 1990's. . .
I ran into Dr. Armstrong in an elevator, of all places, and Dr. Collins at the Air and Space Museum in DC, while he was director there.
What a terrible strap line (Score:2, Insightful)
"often called the 'Forgotten Astronaut" - by who exactly ? sounds like a shite media line.
He Didn't Regret His Seat (Score:2)
Saw an interview of Michael Collins where they asked him about being the "loneliest man."
He replied that he never regretted his seat on the mission and he was happy he contributed to it's success.
He also mentioned that he didn't know Armstrong and Aldrin very well before the mission, and they only became friends during the world tour they went on after returning.
_one_ of the most? (Score:2)
An astronaut who flew on one of the most famous space missions of all time has died.
Alright, I'll bite: "one of the most" ? Isn't it just the most famous space mission?