Collins joined NASA in 1963 as part of the young space agency’s third class of astronauts. He first ventured to space as pilot of Gemini 10, under commander John Young, in 1966. The mission became the first to dock with multiple spacecraft — two separate Agena target vehicles that had been launched to a similar orbit for docking practice — setting a spaceflight record for altitude in the process.
The second Agena had originally served as a target vehicle for Gemini 8, which was forced to undock and abort its mission after a stuck thruster. When Collins performed a spacewalk to retrieve a micrometorite experiment from the target vehicle, he became the third U.S. spacewalker.
Space-age celebrity
Of course, Collins was best-known for his duties on Apollo 11 in July 1969: When Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin flew the lunar module down to the surface of the Moon, Collins remained behind in the orbiting command module, Columbia, making visual and photographic observations of the lunar surface.
Despite not walking on the Moon, Collins was recognized for his articulate writings and reflections on the experience. After Apollo 11’s return, a short speech that he delivered to a joint session of Congress caught the attention of U.S. Secretary of State William Rogers. In November 1969, at Rogers’ urging, President Richard Nixon nominated Collins to head public affairs at the State Department, despite Collins’ lack of journalistic or foreign policy experience. At Foggy Bottom, he was tasked with converting his space-age celebrity status into being a liaison of sorts with the public, especially with students protesting the ongoing war in Vietnam.
It was a position Collins eventually felt ill-suited for, and after little more than a year, he requested a transfer. He wanted to become the first director of the National Air and Space Museum, which at the time was just in the planning stages. Collins shepherded the museum through its construction to its opening in 1976. Today, it is the most visited of the Smithsonian’s national museums — and it also continues to exhibit Columbia, the ship that Collins piloted around the Moon.
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