Michael Collins (astronaut) Michael Collins (astronaut) Michael Collins (born October 31, 1930) (Major General, USAF, Retired) is an American former astronaut and test pilot. Selected as part of the third group of fourteen astronauts in 1963, he flew into space twice. His first spaceflight was on Gemini 10, in which he and Command Pilot John Young performed two rendezvous with different spacecraft and undertook two extra-vehicular activities (EVAs, also known as spacewalks). His second spaceflight was as the Command Module Pilot for Apollo 11. While he stayed in orbit around the Moon, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin left in the Lunar Module to
Buzz Aldrin NASA's Astronaut Group 2 was selected in 1962 was rejected on the ground that he was not a test pilot. He was aware of the requirement, and asked for it to be waived, but this request was turned down. On May 15, 1963, NASA announced another round of selections. This time requirement was that applicants have either test pilot experience or 1,000 hours flying time in jet aircraft, and Aldrin had over 2,500 hours of flying time, of which 2,200 was in jets. His selection as one of fourteen members of NASA's Astronaut Group 3, was publicly announced on October