Apollo 11 Astronaut Michael Collins Dies

The astronaut who flew the Apollo 11 command module is dead. Michael Collins' family announced the retired Air Force major general passed away following a fight with cancer. 

The family says the 90-year-old possessed a sharp wit and quiet sense of purpose while also dealing with life's challenges with grace and humility. They also noted the plan to celebrate, not mourn, his passing with funeral arrangements pending. 

Collins performed multiple spacewalks while with NASA and orbited the Moon 30 times while waiting for Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to return from the Moon's surface. He later worked in the State Department and served as Director of the National Air and Space Museum. Collins retired from the Air Force in 1982.


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