Michael Collins Passes Away

[Startrek (Martin)]

Apollo 11 command module pilot Michael Collins passed away today at age 90 from cancer
Often referred to as the “Forgotten Astronaut” Collins was the backbone of the Apollo 11 mission , the flight that put humanity on the moon July 20 1969
A jovial character , incredible aviator , astronaut and family man

RIP Mike Collins

[multiweb (Marc)]

RIP

The only person who took the first picture of the whole of humanity including his two crew members in the shot. Some perspective.

[gary]

It was a remarkable feeling to see the three of them in the motocade in
Sydney knowing less than four months earlier they had been to the Moon.
They were the three most famous guys in the world.

[multiweb (Marc)]

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[gary]

Hi Marc,

Thanks for the video clip link.

Immediately after seeing the three of them on that date, I remember
going into the cinema in the city to see the "Battle of Britain", which
was the latest big movie at the time.

Most other movies you ever go to, you would be hard pressed to
later remember the date.

[taminga16 (Greg)]

I attended School with 731 other boy's and experienced the quietest day with all of us gathered around black and white televisions watching grainy images of Neil Armstrong taking those first steps. Greg.

[SimmoW (SIMON)]

And impressive author, I still have his book Carrying the Fire, such a good read and beautifully written. An amazing man

[Nikolas (Nik)]

At one stage he was the loneliest person in the universe when he went behind the moon and lost all contact with the earth. The funny thing is he never even considered it at the time.

[Startrek (Martin)]

Originally Posted by Nikolas

At one stage he was the loneliest person in the universe when he went behind the moon and lost all contact with the earth. The funny thing is he never even considered it at the time.

I can understand why the Command Module pilots like Mike were not lonely whilst orbiting the moon by themselves, just take a look at the flight manual for the Command Module alone, there were hundreds and hundreds of checklists and Com verification between Houston and Mike every few minutes for hours and hours
Like Mike said “I was too busy to be lonely , I had Houston yacking in my ear most of the time wanting all sorts of data , pressures , temperatures , orbital data , voltages etc... you name it”

[gary]

Mike of course had to be prepared for the terrible scenario of having to
come back on his own.

There is that wonderful exchange you hear on the Apollo 11 documentary
movie as the LM separates from the Command Module for the descent
and Mike radios, "You guys take care" and Neil simply comes back with
an understated, casual and chirpy, "See you later".