Micheal Collins, the astronaut who went with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in the Apollo 11 mission succumbed to cancer on Wednesday. He was 90. Collins controlled the command module of the Apollo 11 while Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong took their historic first steps on the Moon.
The family statement announcing his death read, “Astronaut Micheal Collins is also known as the ‘loneliest’ person in the history because when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were busy with their mission on the lunar surface, Collins was alone in the command module and when the module circled the dark side of the moon, Collins connection with the NASA had cut off and which made him disconnected from every other human in the world.”
NASA paying homage to the pioneer wrote, “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.”
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin tweeted, “Dear Mike, Wherever you have been or will be, you will always have the Fire to Carry us deftly to new heights and to the future. We will miss you. May you Rest In Peace.”