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 were two crashes at Edwards, of an A-7 Corsair II and a T-33. No lives were lost, but the aircraft were destroyed, and their loss was attributed to insufficient supervision, which placed the blame on Aldrin. In February 1972, General George S. Brown paid a visit to Edwards and informed Aldrin that the school was being renamed the USAF Test Pilot School, and the astronaut training was being dropped. With the Apollo Program winding down, and Air Force budgets being cut, the Air Force's interest in space diminished. Aldrin elected to retire on March 1, 1972, after 21 years of