Today is the birthday of test pilot and astronaut, Michael Collins, who has life is a storied career of public service. After he graduated from the the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York, in 1952, he chose to become an Air Force test pilot. Selected by NASA as an astronaut in 1963, he served as the pilot for Gemini X and as the command module pilot for the Apollo 11 mission, the first time humans set foot on another celestial body.
Collins retired from the Air Force as a major general and left NASA in 1970. He not only served as Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs, but also became the director of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air & Space Museum, serving from 1971 to 1978 and overseeing the museum building's construction and opening.
In this image, Collins is aboard his spacecraft during the Gemini X mission.
Image Credit: NASA
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