AS SEEN ON TV: MICHAEL COLLINS

Today marks the 40th anniversary of the first Moon landing. A lot of the visual images you see today will of course focus on Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin as they bounced around on the lunar surface.

But I want to tip the ol' Toobworld cap to the unsung member of that team. He may not have been able to do the moonwalk, but without him, Armstrong and Aldrin might not have made it home.....

MICHAEL COLLINS

AS SEEN IN:
"Apollo 11"

AS PLAYED BY:
Jim Metzler

From Wikipedia:
Major General Michael Collins (born October 31, 1930 in Rome, Italy) is a former American astronaut and test pilot. Selected as part of the third group of fourteen astronauts in 1963, he flew in space twice. His first spaceflight was Gemini 10, when he and command pilot John W. Young performed two rendezvous with different spacecraft and Collins undertook two EVAs. His second spaceflight was Apollo 11 where 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. He is one of only 24 people to have flown to the Moon. "Usually, you find yourself either too young or too old to do what you really want, but consider: Neil Armstrong was born in 1930, Buzz Aldrin 1930, and Mike Collins 1930. We came along at exactly the right time. We survived hazardous careers and we were successful in them. But in my own case at least, it was 10 percent shrewd planning and 90 percent blind luck. Put LUCKY on my tombstone."
- Michael Collins
(with thanks to NASAWatch, an online site run by an old high school friend, Keith Cowing)

BCnU!