Major General Michael Collins, the command module pilot of the Apollo 11 mission, has passed away from cancer at the age of 90.
Breaking News Michael Collins Passes Away
- Thread starter ShadowArxxy
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prinCZess
Warrior, Writer, Performer, Perv
Oof, that hurts. Cancer is a garbage illness we'll be much better-off eliminating as soon as possible.
I've not yet really confronted it or realized it or whatever the terminology is, but I suppose now with most WWII veterans and that whole generation out, it's natural that the next big 'wave' of deaths will be from that group of folks who came to adulthood in the 50s-70s--meaning prominent among them will be all the early NASA and Cold War aviation folks like Collins or, earlier, Chuck Yeager, who were the faces at the forefront of science and boundary-pushing technology from the time.
But it still rather sucks--when I was growing up folks like Collins (or Yeager, or Armstrong, etc.) were heroes and presences that weren't much older than my parents. And even seeing them age in what appearances they made in the interim...It never quite seems like it overcomes the sense they 'can't be that old' that always sticks with me...and, I suppose from a more optimistic viewpoint, that 'presence' will last in people's memories--whether it's direct family-members or the more thirdhand and distant remembrance of their accomplishments and presence by strangers who only knew them from history-books and documentaries.
I'm rambling.
Those that haven't should check out Carrying the Fire or First on the Moon.
I've not yet really confronted it or realized it or whatever the terminology is, but I suppose now with most WWII veterans and that whole generation out, it's natural that the next big 'wave' of deaths will be from that group of folks who came to adulthood in the 50s-70s--meaning prominent among them will be all the early NASA and Cold War aviation folks like Collins or, earlier, Chuck Yeager, who were the faces at the forefront of science and boundary-pushing technology from the time.
But it still rather sucks--when I was growing up folks like Collins (or Yeager, or Armstrong, etc.) were heroes and presences that weren't much older than my parents. And even seeing them age in what appearances they made in the interim...It never quite seems like it overcomes the sense they 'can't be that old' that always sticks with me...and, I suppose from a more optimistic viewpoint, that 'presence' will last in people's memories--whether it's direct family-members or the more thirdhand and distant remembrance of their accomplishments and presence by strangers who only knew them from history-books and documentaries.
I'm rambling.
Those that haven't should check out Carrying the Fire or First on the Moon.
One really should read *all* of the astronaut autobiographies; firsthand accounts of historic events are simply precious. And of the lot, Collins *did not* use a ghostwriter, so it's less polished but so much more authentic and visceral.
NASA issued a Statement on it.
www.nasa.gov
Statements on Passing of Michael Collins
The following is a statement from acting NASA Administrator Steve Jurczyk on the passing of Michael Collins:
Yeager was in WW2.
AFAIK, most early NASA were in the same boat.
Korean and Vietnam vets are the next generation to go. Sadly
RIP, sir. You did mankind as a whole, not just America, proud.
Man, imagine the sights he and the others must have seen! When you look up at the Moon tonight, imagine the opposite vista they and a precious few others had seen.
Man, imagine the sights he and the others must have seen! When you look up at the Moon tonight, imagine the opposite vista they and a precious few others had seen.
The closest that the rest of us can come to this is a high quality VR simulation, which *does* exist and which I highly recommend to anyone who has a headset.