MICHAEL COLLINS (1947-74)

U.S, astronaut, co-pilot of the Gemini 10 flight and Command Module pilot of Apollo 11, the first manned lunar landing mission.

A graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., he transferred to the Air Force, becoming a test pilot at Edwards Air Force Base in California. He joined the space program in 1963.

Gemini 10, manned by Collins and John W. Young, was launched on July 18, 1966. After a rendezvous with an Agena target vehicle, the two men used the Agena´s engines to propel them to a record altitude of 475 miles (765 kilometres), where Collins left the spacecraft to remove equipment needed for a micrometeorite experiment from the aft end of the Gemini and attempted unsuccessfully to attach similar equipment to the Agena. He succeeded in retrieving an instrument from the Agena, but his extravehicular activity was cut short because the Gemini craft was low on fuel. Gemini 10 returned to Earth on July 21.

Collins was chosen for the Apollo 8 mission, the first flight around the Moon, but was removed from the crew because a bone spur and loose spinal disk required surgery.

He was placed on the Apollo 11 mission with Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr. On July 20, 1969, four days after the launch, Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the Moon. Collins remained in the Command Module, circling the Moon at an altitude of 60 to 75 miles (100 to 120 kilometres). On July 21 Armstrong and Aldrin rejoined him and the following day the three astronauts left lunar orbit, landing in the Pacific Ocean on July 24.

Apollo 11 was his last space mission; later in 1969 he was appointed assistant secretary of state for public affairs.