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Aviation History
1969
1969 - 2462.PDF
Edwin "buzz" Aldrin is the lunar module pilot, and will be looking after the systems on this first-generation manned moon- landing spacecraft. He and his wife Joan have three children: Mike (13), Andy (II, sected) and Jan (12) Michael Collins, as command module pilot, will fly the command module around the Moon for some 22hr while his companions stretch themselves below. He, his wife Pat and his three children Kate (ten, left), Mike (six) and Ann (seven) live in Houston, as do the other astronauts THREE MEN TO THE MOON . Col Edwin E. Aldrin, USAF, was born at Montclair. New Jersey, on January 20, 1930, the son of a retired USAF colonel, and went to a Montclair high school. Like Collins, Aldrin planned to continue his family's military career and became a student at West Point. His great interest in, and aptitude for, science resulted in his placing third from an entry of 475 in the bachelor of science class in 1953. He joined the USAF straight from college in time to receive his wings at Bryan, Texas, in 1952 and see service in Korea, where he flew 66 combat missions in F-86s, was credited with the destruction of two MiG-15s, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Commendation Medal of the USAF. Back in America he served as an aerial gunnery instructor at Nelllis AFB, and then attended the Squadron Officers' School at the Air University, Maxwell AFB, Alabama. Following an assignment as aide to the Dean of Faculty at the USAF Academy, Aldrin was posted to Germany, where he flew F-IOOs with the 36th Tactical Fighter Wing at Bitburg. Back in America Aldrin studied for his doctor of science degree in astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Tech nology, which was completed in 1963. His doctoral thesis was a dissertation on orbital mechanics and guidance for manned orbital rendezvous. His step to astronaut status was made in October 1963 when NASA recruited a further 14 applicants; he was initially assigned to the Gemini Target Office of the USAF Space Systems Division in Los Angeles, and later transferred to the USAF Field office at Houston, to integrate DoD experiments into NASA's Gemini flights. Aldrin was selected as back-up pilot for Gemini 9 and pilot for Gemini 12 (commanded by James Lovell). During this flight he spent 3hr 28min standing with his head and shoulders protruding through the open hatch of the space craft, taking pictures of the Earth. Later in, the four-day flight he made a spacewalk of 2hr 9min (a record duration for such activities), connected to the capsule by a line. During this walk he attached a tether to an orbiting unmanned Agena target vehicle with which the Gemini 12 capsule was docked. This was done without the manoeuvring problems and exhaustion encountered by previous American astronauts and, as such, he is the first man to perform useful work without difficulty while outside an orbiting spacecraft. This astronaut has logged about 3,500hr, including 2,853hr in jets and I39hr on helicopters; he has also flown the lunar- landing trainer. Aldrin is lunar-module pilot of Apollo 11. Lt Col Michael Collins, USAF, was born on October 31, 1930, in Rome, where his father (a major-general in the US Army) was serving at the time as a military attache. During his school days he was noted as "a very quiet boy, very self-possessed and imperturbable." His interest in aviation, like that of Armstrong, began at a very early age. In accordance with family tradition (his uncle, Gen Joseph Lawton Collins, was one-time chief of staff in the US Army), Collins chose a military career and attended the Military Academy at West Point, New York, where he gained a bachelor of science degree in 1952. After graduation he was commissioned by the US Air Force, and joined the Air Force Flight Test Centre at Edwards AFB, California, as an ex perimental flight test officer. In this assignment he was con cerned primarily with the performance, stability and control of fighter aircraft. His logbook shows over 4,000hr, of which more than 3,200hr has been on jets. In October 1963 Collins was one of the 14 men selected by NASA for astronaut training. His first task was as back-up pilot for the Gemini 7 flight, and he was subsequently selected as pilot for the three-day Gemini 10 flight of July 18, 1966. This flight was noteworthy in that it involved docking with two Agena target vehicles. The first was the spacecraft which had been left in a parking orbit 300 miles above Earth since the curtailed flight of Armstrong and Scott four months pre viously. The second Agena was a vehicle which had been flown just prior to Gemini 10. Following the docking of the spacecraft and the second Agena, the combined spacecraft climbed to rendezvous with the first vehicle. It was Collins who made the EVA (extra-vehicular activity) to the Agena to retrieve a meteroid-collector pack. He thus became the first man to make direct personal contact with another object orbiting in space. Collins' first assignment in the Apollo programme was as command module pilot for Apollo 8, the first manned flight around the Moon, last December. He was prevented from taking part in this flight by the growth of a bone spur on his spine, which necessitated surgery. His place was taken by William Anders, but he was replaced on the active list last January. Honours accorded to this astronaut include the NASA Exceptional Service Medal, and the Astronaut Wings and Distinguished Flying Cross of the USAF. Collins is command module pilot of Apollo 11.
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