Michael Collins was born on October 31, 1930, in Rome, Italy. He was the second son of James Lawton Collins, a career U.S. Army officer. He flew F-86 Sabre fighters at Chambley-Bussières Air Base, France. He became one of 24 people to fly to the Moon, which he orbited thirty times.
About Michael Collins (astronaut) in brief
Michael Collins was born on October 31, 1930, in Rome, Italy. He was the second son of James Lawton Collins, a career U.S. Army officer. Collins graduated from the United States Military Academy with the Class of 1952. He flew F-86 Sabre fighters at Chambley-Bussières Air Base, France. He became one of 24 people to fly to the Moon, which he orbited thirty times. Collins was the fourth person to perform a spacewalk, the first person to have performed more than one spacewalks. He retired from NASA in 1970 and became the director of the National Air and Space Museum. In 1980, he took a job as vice president of LTV Aerospace. He resigned in 1985 to start his own consulting firm. He died on December 17, 2013, at the age of 87. He is survived by his wife, two daughters, a son and a daughter-in-law. He also has a son, James Connally, who served in the U. S. Air Force Reserves and served as a test pilot in the Air Force Test and Training Command. Collins is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He has also served as the chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Museum of Space History at the Smithsonian Institution. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1969 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 2011. He served as Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs from 1970 to 1978, and was undersecretary of the Smithsonian from 1978 to 1980.
Collins has a daughter, Virginia C. Collins, who is a retired Air Force colonel and a former Air Force test pilot. She served as Air Force chief of staff from 1987 to 1989. Collins also served in Congress as a congressman from Washington, D.C. and on the House Armed Services Committee from 1989 to 1991. He currently serves as the president of the Center for Space Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. He lives with his wife and two daughters in San Diego, California, and has three step-daughters in San Francisco, California and New York City, New York. He and his wife have three children and one step-grandchild. He had an older brother and two older sisters, Virginia and Agnes. Collins served in World War II in the Army and served in Europe. He wanted to fly again after the war, but was unable to do so. He joined the Air Air Force in 1952 and was chosen for advanced training at Nellis Air Force Base in Texas. In 1953, he was awarded his wings upon completion of the course at Waco, Texas. His father and older brother had graduated in 1907 and 1939 respectively. His uncle, General J.Lawton Collins, was the Chief of Staff of the United United States Army. Collins’ father had reached the rank of major general and his uncle, general J.lawton Collins Jr., was the chief of Staff.
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