Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins returned Tuesday to the exact spot where he flew to the Moon 50 years ago with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.
Collins had the spotlight to himself this time. Armstrong—of the famed first “small step for man”—passed away seven years ago, and Aldrin could not attend. Collins said he wished his two moonwalking colleagues could have shared the moment at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A, the departure point for humanity’s first Moon landing.
“Wonderful feeling to be back,” the 88-year-old command module pilot said. “There’s a difference this time. I want to turn and ask Neil a question and maybe tell Buzz Aldrin something, and of course, I’m here by myself.”
At NASA’s invitation, Collins marked the precise moment—9:32 a.m. on July 16, 1969—that the Saturn V rocket blasted off. On July 20, Armstrong would land the Eagle lunar module and step out onto the surface of the Moon. Aldrin followed him out, and the pair spent two and a half hours walking and leaping on the gray, dusty lunar surface.
Collins recalled the tension surrounding the crew that day.
“Apollo 11 was serious business. We, crew, felt the weight of the world on our shoulders. We knew that everyone would be looking at us, friend or foe, and we wanted to do the best we possibly could,” he said.
A reunion Tuesday at the Kennedy firing room was attended by past and present launch controllers. That plus Collins’ return to the pad, now leased to SpaceX, kicked off a week of celebrations marking each day of Apollo 11’s eight-day voyage.
In Huntsville, Alabama, some 4,900 model rockets lifted off simultaneously to commemorate the moment the Apollo 11 crew blasted off. More than 1,000 youngsters attending Space Camp counted down “5, 4, 3, 2, 1!” and cheered as red, white, and blue rockets created a momentary gray cloud in the sky.
At the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., the spacesuit that Armstrong wore went back on display in mint condition, complete with lunar dust left on the suit’s knees, thighs, and elbows. On hand for the unveiling were Vice President Mike Pence, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, and Armstrong’s older son, Rick.
Back at Kennedy, NASA televised the original launch video of Apollo 11, timed down to the second. Then the conversation turned to NASA’s next moonshot program, Artemis. It’s named after the twin sister of Greek mythology’s Apollo. Artemis seeks to put the first woman and next man on the lunar surface—the Moon’s south pole—by 2024.
(Neil Armstrong’s Apollo 11 spacesuit is unveiled at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, July 16, 2019. AP Photo)
