Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins dies aged 90
Michael Collins (1930 - 2021)
NASA
NASA
NASA
Apollo 11 astronaut Major General Michael Collins (USAF (Retired)) has died at the age of 90 after a battle with cancer. In 1969, Collins was the Command Module Pilot for the first crewed lunar landing, and remained in orbit aboard the Command Service Module (CSM) Columbia while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin descended to the surface.
One of the third group of NASA astronauts chosen in the 1960s, Michael Collins was born on October 31, 1930 in Rome, Italy, where his father was the US military attaché. As an Army brat, he spent his childhood in many locations and joined the US Air Force in 1952, becoming a fighter pilot and later a test pilot.
Posted By Ken Storey on Thu, Mar 11, 2021 at 11:14 AM click to enlarge The Apollo/Saturn V Center After a yearlong closure related to COVID-19, Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex plans to reopen the Apollo/Saturn V Center this month. The Brevard County attraction reopened many of its exhibits last summer after a short closure, but kept the Apollo/Saturn V Center closed. The Apollo/Saturn V Center is located 7.5 miles north of the main Visitors Center and must be accessed via shuttle bus. Multiple new safety protocols have been implemented in response to the ongoing pandemic while providing access to the Apollo/Saturn V Center.
Often, I have written of my love of aviation. Growing up in McAlester, I was an aviation/NASA geek. So, it comes to no surprise my admiration and appreciation of the Stafford Air & Space Museum in Weatherford. Let me just point out, if you have never been, I would strongly encourage you to do so at some point. And if it has been awhile since you were there, it is time to go back!
Named for Oklahoma native Gen. Thomas P. Stafford, the Smithsonian-affiliated museum is in the process of adding new exhibits, and once it is finished with this phase, it will have 63,000 square feet to explore which, of course, does not count the outside exhibits.
NASA
Fifty years ago today, on January 31, 1971, at 4:03 pm EST, a Saturn V rocket lifted off from Pad A of Launch Complex 39 at the Kennedy Space Center carrying Apollo 14 – the Moon mission that would make or break the US space program.
If Apollo 14 is remembered at all by most people, it s mainly as the answer to trivia questions like, who was the oldest man to walk on the Moon, or what is the longest lunar golf drive? But it was far more than that. Arguably, it was one of the most important of all the Apollo lunar landing missions, with the possible exception of Apollo 11.