The bad news of the week: the death of Mike COLLINS

3 May 2021

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The bad news of the week: the death of Mike COLLINS

Of course the death at the age of 90 of General Mike Collins, one of the three astronauts of the Apollo XI Mission is a shock. The man who amazed us in July 1969 by circling the Moon in his spacecraft, waiting to pick up his two colleagues who were walking on the Moon, was attached to the Chambley airfield. From 1954 to 1957, he commanded a squadron of F86s, got married in the base chapel and visited back ten years later in 1967. He was returning from his Gemini mission, guest of honour at the Paris Air Show. His steps led him one last time with his wife Pat Finnigan, whom he had met on the base. Local officials had organised a “second wedding” to honour him. From now on, the auditorium of the Pilâtre de Rozier AeroMuseum bears his name and for the next edition of the GEMAB21, a exhibition space will be dedicated to him with the support of the veterans of Chambley Air Base France Reunion. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]