When Apollo 11 pilot Michael Collins said his success was 90% blind luck

Often called “the loneliest man in history”, Apollo 11 pilot Michael Collins died on Wednesday after battling cancer. The American astronaut, who steered the Apollo 11 command module while his crewmates became the first humans to walk on the Moon, never earned the same global name recognition as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. The witty yet self-effacing astronaut had famously said in a 2009 interview with NASA that the astronauts should not be celebrated as heroes, and that his “historic” accomplishments were “90 percent blind luck”.

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To a question that if he had the best of three Apollo 11 seats, Michael Collins candidly said, “No” but added that he was happy with the job he was given and he did accomplish that. The answer again was “No” to a question on his famous “loneliness” while circling the “lonely moon” all by himself.

“Far from feeling lonely or abandoned, I feel very much a part of what is taking place on the lunar surface… I know that I would be a liar or a fool if I said that I have the best of the three Apollo 11 seats, but I can say with truth and equanimity that I am perfectly satisfied with the one I have. This venture has been structured for three men, and I consider my third to be as necessary as either of the other two,” he said in the NASA interview.

Michael Collins’s crewmate Aldrin tweeted: “Dear Mike, Wherever you have been or will be, you will always have the Fire to Carry us deftly to new heights and to the future. We will miss you. May you Rest In Peace.”

US President Joe Biden said that while Collins “may not have received equal glory,” he was “an equal partner, reminding our nation about the importance of collaboration in service of great goals.”

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Michael Collins was born in Rome in 1930 to a US army officer serving as military attache there, Collins went on to become a fighter pilot and test pilot with the air force. He applied to NASA after being inspired by John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth, and was selected to be an astronaut in 1963. Collins’ first spaceflight was on the Gemini 10 mission, where he made a then record-breaking two spacewalks.