https://www.space.com/michael-collins-apollo-11-astronaut-dies-at-90Michael Collins, Apollo 11 astronaut who orbited moon, dies at 90
Gemini and Apollo astronaut Michael Collins, who orbited the moon during the world's first lunar landing mission, has died at the age of 90.
Collins' death on Wednesday (April 28) was made known his family and NASA.
"We regret to share that our beloved father and grandfather passed away today, after a valiant battle with cancer. He spent his final days peacefully, with his family by his side," Collins' family said in a statement. "Mike always faced the challenges of life with grace and humility, and faced this, his final challenge, in the same way. We will miss him terribly. Yet we also know how lucky Mike felt to have lived the life he did. We will honor his wish for us to celebrate, not mourn, that life."
"Please join us in fondly and joyfully remembering his sharp wit, his quiet sense of purpose and his wise perspective, gained both from looking back at Earth from the vantage of space and gazing across calm waters from the deck of his fishing boat," his family said.
NASA responded with a statement by acting administrator Steve Jurczyk.
"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," said Jurczyk.
Related: Michael Collins, Apollo 11 Command Module Pilot
As the command module pilot on NASA's Apollo 11 mission, Collins circled the moon while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin touched down at Tranquility Base on July 20, 1969. When his two crewmates returned from the surface, Collins was in the unique position to capture a photo of all of humanity — his fellow astronauts on board the lunar module and everyone else on Earth off in the distance.
Mission Control likened Collins' experience to that of the first human in existence. "Not since Adam has any human known such solitude," a mission commentator said. Collins later rejected that notion.
"That's baloney," Collins said on the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission in 2019. "You put some Samoan on his little canoe out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean at night and he doesn't really know where he's going, he doesn't know how to get there. He can see the stars, they're his only friend out there, and he's not talking to anybody. That guy is lonely."
"Columbia [the command module] was a nice, secure, safe, commodious place. I had hot coffee, I had music if I wanted it, I had nice views out the window," Collins said in an interview with collectSPACE.com.
