NASA pays tribute to Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins with unseen pic of Earth and Moon

NASA on April 29 paid a tribute to Michael Collins, the American astronaut who was the command module pilot for the Apollo 11 mission. Collins passed away on Wednesday at the age of 90, after battling cancer. While taking to Instagram, NASA shared a photograph and said that it was clicked by Collins, who spent seven years of his career as an astronaut with them.

In the image, one can see the lunar module, ‘Eagle’, returning to the command module, ‘Columbia’, after landing on the Moon. Earth can be seen in the background of the image. In the caption, the US space agency said that the picture had “all the humanity” in it, save for Collins who capture it. 

“We remember Michael Collins, @NASA astronaut and crew member of Apollo 11, who passed away on April 28, 2021,” NASA said.

In the post, NASA also quoted what Collins had said during transmission to Mission Control in the trip back to Earth from the Moon. On July 21, 1969, Collins said, “This trip of ours to the Moon may have looked, to you, simple or easy… All you see is the three of us, but beneath the surface are thousands and thousands of others, and to all those I would like to say, thank you very much”. Further, the US Space agency also shared what the mission control stated during Apollo 11. 

“Not since Adam has any human known such solitude as Mike Collins is experiencing during the 47 minutes of each lunar revolution when he's behind the Moon with no one to talk to except his tape recorder aboard Columbia. While he waits for his comrades to soar with Eagle from Tranquility Base and rejoin him for the trip back to Earth, Collins, with the help of Flight Controllers here in Mission Control Center has kept the Command Module's system going,” NASA quoted. 

Collins piloted the command module of the US first manned mission to the moon that was in line with the former President John F. Kennedy's national goal set on May 25, 1961, to send the first human from the US to the moon by the end of the 1960s. Kennedy had said that the primary objective of the flight would be a crewed lunar landing and return to Earth. Additional flight objectives included scientific exploration by the lunar module, or LM, crew; deployment of a television camera to transmit signals to Earth; and deployment of a solar wind composition experiment, seismic experiment package, and a Laser Ranging Retroreflector, according to NASA. 

‘Collins was a national treasure’ 

Meanwhile, since shared, several internet users took to the comment section and called Collins a “hero”. One user wrote, “I’ve always so admired Michael Collins for shouldering that awesome responsibility of command module pilot with such serenity and candour. What a model astronaut he will always be for future generations of deep space explorers”. Another added, “Michael Collins was a hero and national treasure”. 

(Image: NASA)