Apollo 11 astronaut shares insight into ‘lonely’ experience as he orbited while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the moon

When you hear the phrase Apollo 11, you often think of the iconic American space mission that saw astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin land on the moon.

But the man who doesn’t always come to mind is Michael Collins, who never set foot on the moon despite piloting the first successful space flight.

With the first human expedition to the moon successfully completed, you’d think the trio would be revered upon arrival, but Collins reveals the shocking steps they took upon arrival.

Before her death in 2021, she told 60 Minutes Australia: ‘They put us in quarantine for two weeks. Some of our scientists were concerned that the pathogens we might have brought back from the moon would possibly be dangerous to humanity.

The legendary astronaut added: “So their solution was to put us inside a hermetically sealed container with a gigantic colony of white mice.”

He suffered a blow to his confidence the previous year when NASA rejected him as one of nine astronauts for its 1962 Gemini program.

Once they successfully complete the first human expedition to the moon, you’d think the trio would be revered upon arrival, but Collins reveals the shocking steps they took upon arrival.

Pictured is the trio in a mobile quarantine facility, visited by President Nixon. ‘They put us in quarantine for two weeks. Some of our scientists were concerned that the pathogens we might have brought back from the moon would possibly be dangerous to humanity.

He explained the strange measures: ‘[If] the white mice lived we were fine, [if the] the white mice died, we were in serious trouble.

“Of course, I was checking on them, there were too many to give them names, but they became my friends.”

Fortunately, the mice survived, as did the trio.

Collins insisted that he was doing just fine with less recognition than his equally legendary peers.

He said: ‘Tbe a small part of it [mission] It fit me very, very well.

The astronaut joked: “And besides, I was their ticket home, they couldn’t go home without me.”

He refuted claims of loneliness, telling NPR on the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11: “I mean, loneliness, some people are the loneliest, loneliest for a lifetime, a month or a year.” I mean, for eight days back and forth, I don’t think loneliness really entered the equation, except that it seemed to be on the minds of the press at the time.’

But he admitted in his autobiography Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut’s Journeys: “I know I would be a liar or a fool if I said I have the best of the three seats on Apollo 11.”

When you hear the phrase Apollo 11, you often think of the iconic American space mission that saw astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin land on the moon.

His crewmates spent time collecting lunar rocks, in utter amazement, while Collins chose to orbit the moon alone for nearly 28 hours, in complete darkness.

And surprisingly, Collins was earning a paltry $17,000 a year despite being one of NASA’s best-trained command module pilots who risked his life to make history.

He told The New York Times of the pressure the trio faced: “We were our nation’s envoys, and it would be a national disgrace if we screwed up.”

Adding: “But I can say with truth and equanimity that I am perfectly satisfied with the one I have,” he said in his autobiography.

His crewmates spent time collecting lunar rocks, in utter amazement, while Collins chose to orbit the moon alone for nearly 28 hours, in complete darkness.

collins He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Military Science from the United States Military Academy in 1952, following in the footsteps of his father and older brother.

He then joined the US Air Force as a test pilot, before being selected for NASA’s prestigious Apollo program in 1963.

But he was not always so optimistic.

He suffered a blow to his confidence the previous year when NASA rejected him as one of nine astronauts for its 1962 Gemini program.

Collins said: “With one part shrewd logic and nine parts blind luck, I qualified.”

Like Armstrong, Collins was just 38 years old when he completed the space flight.

And surprisingly, he was earning a measly $17,000 a year despite being a member of NASA. best-trained command module pilot who risked his life to make history.

Collins quipped: “And besides, I was their ticket home, they [Aldrin and Armstrong] Couldn’t get home without me’

Apollo 11 was the first American space flight that landed humans on the Moon.

Like Armstrong, Collins (pictured left) was just 38 years old when he completed the space flight.

He told The New York Times of the pressure the trio faced: “We were our nation’s envoys, and it would be a national disgrace if we screwed up.”

Interestingly, the 1969 landing was not Collins’ first chance at success, but an ill-timed operation prevented him from participating in the Apollo 8 orbit over Christmas 1968.

Apollo 8 orbited the moon a total of 10 times, without ever landing, but astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders became the first humans to photograph rising from the earth.

It was the first manned spaceflight mission in NASA’s Apollo program.