Michael Collins (Mike Collins)

He was a heavy smoker. Around 1962, he decided to quit smoking.

In 1968, he experienced many problems with his legs, which was later diagnosed as cervical disc herniation. He was operated for the same. It took him three months to recover and this made him miss the 'Apollo 9' mission.

Michael Collins was born on October 31, 1930 in Rome, Italy, to James Lawton Collins, a U.S. Army Major General. Since his father served in the army, young Collins resided in several parts of the world, including, Rome, Oklahoma, Governors Island and New York, among many others.

He attended the Academia del Perpetuo Socorro in San Juan. He later attended the St. Albans School, Washington, D.C, where the family had moved during the World War II.

In 1952, he graduated from the United States Military Academy, where he finished 185th out of 527 cadets. The same year, he joined the United States Air Force.

He was trained at the T-6 Texan in Columbus Air Force Base, Mississippi, San Marcos Air Force Base and James Connally Air Force Base, Texas.

He later flew the F-86 Sabres at the Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, during the advanced day fighter training. He also learned to deliver nuclear weapons at the 21st Fighter-Bomber Wing at George Air Force Base, California.

In 1956, he was commissioned to work in West Germany owning the Hungarian Revolution, also known as the Hungarian Uprising, which took place that year.

He later attended an aircraft maintenance officer course at Chanute Air Force Base, Illinois. After the course, he worked at a Mobile Training Detachment and travelled to various Air Force bases for training mechanics on the servicing of new aircrafts.

On August 29, 1960, he joined the USAF Experimental Flight Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, California, after completing the minimum requirement of 1500 hours of flying.

In 1962, John Glenn’s Mercury Atlas 6 flight that circled the Earth in 90 minutes inspired him so much that he decided to become an astronaut. He applied to NASA for the second group of astronauts but was rejected.

He took up a course in basics of spaceflight at the SAF Aerospace Research Pilot School, previously the USAF Experimental Flight Test Pilot School. They also flew 90,000 feet in F-104 Starfighters.

In his lifetime, he flew into the space twice. His first spaceflight was for Gemini 10 wherein he performed two rendezvous with different spacecrafts. His second spaceflight was for Apollo 11, wherein he was command module pilot. It was the first manned landing on the lunar surface. While he orbited the moon, his fellow space colleagues Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon.