Sometimes referred to as the "forgotten" member of the historic Apollo 11 mission — Michael Collins never got to walk on the moon, but has been hailed as a "true pioneer."
US astronaut Michael Collins piloted the spacecraft on the Apollo 11 mission that first saw humans walk on the moonImage: Abaca/CNP/picture alliance
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US astronaut Michael Collins, who piloted the ship on the historic Apollo 11 mission that saw the first humans walk on the moon, died on Wednesday. He was 90 years old.
Collins' family said he died following a battle with cancer.
Remembering the 'forgotten' astronaut
During the Apollo 11 mission in July 1969, while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin traveled to the surface of the moon and took a "giant leap for mankind," Collins stayed behind.
For over 21 hours, Collins piloted the command module — circling the moon and losing contact with US space agency NASA every time the vessel passed into the dark side of the moon.
"I know that I would be a liar or a fool if I said that I have the best of the three Apollo 11 seats, but I can say with truth and equanimity that I am perfectly satisfied with the one I have," Collins wrote in his 1974 autobiography Carrying the Fire.
World marks 50 years since the Apollo 11 moon landing
With parties, speeches and artistic displays, the world has marked the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission which brought men to the lunar surface. NASA showcased its new spacecraft for future flights to the moon.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/A. Harnik
Monument to Apollo 11
Americans showed their pride over the 1969 moon landing with events across the country. The Washington Monument, a 169-meter (555 feet) pillar of marble in the US capital, was turned into a display with images of the lunar mission and a moving projection of the 111-meter Saturn V rocket, which took the Apollo 11 astronauts to the moon.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/A. Harnik
Footsteps of giants
US Vice President Mike Pence (left) praised the Apollo 11 team as "heroes" at a celebration at the US spaceport Cape Canaveral. Half a century ago, a team consisting of pilot Michael Collins, Buzz Aldrin (right) and Neil Armstrong took off from the US base to reach Earth's natural satellite. Armstrong, the first man to set foot on the moon, died in 2012.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/AP Photo/J. Raoux
Catching some sun
This picture, taken by Armstrong, shows Aldrin planting a long sheet of foil designed to capture material radiated by the sun. The two men stayed on the lunar surface for a little over 2 1/2 hours. On Saturday, NASA replayed the original broadcast of the landing seen by half a billion people in 1969.
Image: NASA
Watching 'The Dish' from Down Under
Australians also marked the Apollo 11 anniversary by gathering around the Parkes Radio Telescope for a screening of the 2000 film "The Dish." The movie tells the story of Australians and NASA employees working together and using the Parkes telescope to support the moon landing. Parkes was one of three tracking stations around the world tasked with beaming live pictures of the event.
Image: picture-alliance/ZUMAPRESS/C. Khoury
Labyrinthine tribute
In Wistow, Leicestershire, east of Birmingham, the owners of an 8-acre maze that attracts more than 25,000 visitors every summer chose to mark the 50th anniversary of the moon landing with a design depicting an astronaut.
Image: picture-alliance/empics/J. Giddens
Putting people on the moon
Further south in London, the city marked the jubilee by showing a mosaic image of the moon at Piccadilly Circus at the moment of the 1969 touchdown. British artist Helen Marshall created the image out of thousands of photos sent by members of the public. The mosaic was projected simultaneously in London, New York and Singapore.
Image: picture-alliance/empics/Yui Mok
A view of home
In Shanghai, an artistic installation by UK artist Luke Jerram shows a high-definition image of the Earth taken in 1972. When people view the installation from 211 meters (about 700 feet) away, it would be exactly the same as the view from the moon in 1969. To make the experience more vivid, there are over 1,000 square meters of simulated moon land, where visitors can leave their footprints.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/Jiang Xiaowei
Going to Mars via the moon
NASA plans to send new astronauts to the moon by 2024 with its Artemis program, named after the goddess and twin sister of Apollo in Greek mythology. The program is set to include a platform that would orbit the moon, called Gateway, with astronauts traveling in the Orion crew capsule (pictured). The ultimate goal, however, is much further away: a journey to Mars.
Image: Imago Images/ZumaPress/B. Smegelsky
Space flight doesn't stop
While the Apollo 11 veterans attended the celebrations in the US, a team of astronauts took off for the International Space Station (ISS) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The team includes American Andrew Morgan, Russian Alexander Skvortsov, and Italian Luca Parmitano. The trio modeled their mission patches after the ones used by the famous 1969 team.
Image: Reuters/M. Shemetov
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Mourning a pioneer
NASA marked Collins' passing, calling him a "true pioneer."
"NASA mourns the loss of this accomplished pilot and astronaut, a friend of all who seek to push the envelope of human potential. [...] His spirit will go with us as we venture toward farther horizons," the acting head of NASA, Steve Jurczyk, said in a statement.
Buzz Aldrin, now the last surviving member of the Apollo mission, wrote a tribute to his crewmate on Twitter.
"Dear Mike, Wherever you have been or will be, you will always have the Fire to Carry us deftly to new heights and to the future."
From test pilot to astronaut
Collins was born in Rome, Italy, on October 31, 1930. He started out as an Air Force test pilot, before being chosen for NASA's astronaut program in 1964.
The Apollo 11 mission was his second, and final, space flight. Unlike his crewmates, he avoided the public eye and later went on to become the head of the National Air and Space Museum.
Collins later said the most poignant memory from the mission was looking back at planet Earth, which he described as appearing "fragile."
"I really believe that if the political leaders of the world could see their planet from a distance of 100,000 miles, their outlook could be fundamentally changed," he said. "That all-important border would be invisible, that noisy argument silenced."
