Portal:Spaceflight/Selected biography/March 2009

Michael Collins (born October 31, 1930 in Rome, Italy) is a former American astronaut and test pilot. Selected as an astronaut in 1963, he flew in space twice. During Gemini 10 he and command pilot John W. Young performed two rendezvous with different spacecraft, and Collins undertook two EVAs. For Apollo 11 he served as the command module pilot. While he orbited the Moon, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin performed the first manned landing on the lunar surface below. He is one of only 24 people to have flown to the Moon. (more...)