WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th April, 2021) Astronaut Michael Collins, who remained in lunar orbit while colleagues Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to set foot on the Moon, was remembered for inspiring a generation of scientists, engineers and astronauts, Acting NASA Administrator Steve Jurczyk said on Wednesday.
"His own signature accomplishments, his writings about his experiences, and his leadership of the National Air and Space Museum helped gain wide exposure for the work of all the men and women who have helped our nation push itself to greatness in aviation and space. There is no doubt he inspired a new generation of scientists, engineers, test pilots, and astronauts," Jurczyk said in a statement.
Collins died at the age of 90, his family announced on Wednesday.
As pilot of the Apollo 11 command module that circled the moon in July 1969 while his colleagues walked on the lunar surface, Collins later wrote in a best-selling memoir, "I am alone now, truly alone, and absolutely isolated from any known life."
As a result, Collins became known to many as "the loneliest man in history," as Jurczyk noted on Wednesday.
Collins also flew on a three-day Gemini mission in 1966 and served as director of the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum after retiring from NASA in 1070.
