Astronaut Simulator Game' title='Astronaut Simulator Game' />Michael Collins astronaut Wikipedia. Michael Collins born October 3. Major General, USAF, Ret., is an American former astronaut and test pilot. Selected as part of the third group of fourteen astronauts in 1. His first spaceflight was on Gemini 1. Command Pilot John Young performed two rendezvous with different spacecraft and Collins undertook two extra vehicular activities EVAs. His second spaceflight was as the Command Module Pilot for Apollo 1. While he stayed in orbit around the Moon, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin left in the Lunar Module to make the first manned landing on its surface. He is one of 2. 4 people to have flown to the Moon. Collins was the fourth person, and third American, to perform an EVA and is the first person to have performed more than one EVA. Prior to becoming an astronaut, he attended the United States Military Academy, and from there he joined the United States Air Force and flew F 8. Sabre fighters at Chambley Bussieres Air Base, France. He was accepted to the U. S. Air Force Experimental Flight Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base in 1. He unsuccessfully applied for the second astronaut group, but was accepted for the third group. After retiring from NASA in 1. Department of State as Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs. A year later he became the director of the National Air and Space Museum. He held this position until 1. Smithsonian Institution. In 1. 98. 0 he took the job as Vice President of LTV Aerospace. He resigned in 1. He was married to Patricia Collins until her death in April 2. They had three children Kate born May 6, 1. Ann born October 3. Michael born February 2. Childhood and educationeditCollins was born in Rome, Italy, on October 3. U. S. Army. Major General. James Lawton Collins, who served in the army for 3. For the first 1. 7 years of his life, Collins lived in many places Rome Oklahoma Governors Island, New York Puerto Rico San Antonio, Texas and Alexandria, Virginia. He took his first ride in a planewhen in Puerto Rico aboard a Grumman Widgeon. His father often told of how his own first plane ride had been in 1. Frank Lahm in the Philippines. He studied for two years in the Academia del Perpetuo Socorro in San Juan, Puerto Rico. After the United States entered World War II, the family moved to Washington, D. C. where Collins attended St. Albans School, from which he graduated in 1. His mother wanted him to enter into the diplomatic service, but he decided to follow his father, two uncles, brother and cousin into the armed services, and received an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, which also had the advantage of being free of tuition and other fees. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree, finishing 1. Ed White. His decision to join the United States Air Force for his active service was based on both the wonder of what the next 5. Army where, among other things, his uncle, General J. Lawton Collins, was the Chief of Staff of the United States Army. The Air Force Academy was in its initial construction phase, and would not graduate its first class for several years. In the interim, graduates of the Military Academy, Naval Academy such as fellow astronaut Tom Stafford and the Merchant Marine Academy were eligible for Air Force commissions. Astronaut Simulator Game' title='Astronaut Simulator Game' />Military serviceeditAfter entering the Air Force, Collins completed flight training at Columbus Air Force Base, Mississippi, in the T 6 Texan, then moved to San Marcos Air Force Base and James Connally Air Force Base, Texas. He was chosen for advanced day fighter training at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, flying F 8. Sabres. This was followed by an assignment to the 2. Fighter Bomber Wing at George Air Force Base, California, where he learned how to deliver nuclear weapons. He transferred with the 2. Chaumont Semoutiers Air Base, France, in June 1. During a NATO exercise in the summer of 1. WfzizW0bfHJGppyFyDvr6_UA7dM1CFkpl9OqOtwk2eMwolAWRCokjHNCWU5oKcbpA=h310' alt='Astronaut Simulator Game' title='Astronaut Simulator Game' />Collins was forced to eject from an F 8. He was safely rescued and returned to Chaumont AB, where a wait of several hours ensued, as the bases flight surgeon had joined search parties looking for Collins. Collins met Patricia Finnegan, his future wife, in an officers mess. She was from Boston, Massachusetts, and was working for the Air Force service club. Try to keep the population of your little planet under control, but beware they become resistant the more you use the same weapons. Try throwing, burning, freezing. After getting engaged, they had to overcome a difference in religion. Project Management Tools Open Source more. Collins was nominally Episcopalian, while Finnegan came from a staunchly Roman Catholic family. Collinss father had been raised a Catholic, but converted to Protestantism when he married the rest of his family remained Catholic. After seeking permission to marry from Finnegans father, and delaying their wedding when Collins was redeployed to West Germany during the 1. Hungarian Revolution, they married in the summer of 1. Daughter Kate Collins, born in 1. After Collins was reassigned to the United States, he attended an aircraft maintenance officer course at Chanute Air Force Base, Illinois. Negotiations over the wording of the final communiqu from the G20 meeting of the worlds wealthiest nations carried on late into Saturday morning. The sticking pointHe would later describe this school as dismal in his autobiography. Upon completing the course, he was posted to a Mobile Training Detachment MTD and travelled to Air Force bases, training mechanics on the servicing of new aircraft. Test piloteditWith the help of his time as a member of an MTD, Collins accumulated over 1,5. USAF Experimental Flight Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, California. He successfully applied and reported on August 2. Astronaut Simulator Game' title='Astronaut Simulator Game' />Class 6. C which included future astronauts Frank Borman and Jim Irwin. Following months of intensive training, Collins was one of the few chosen for a position in fighter operations. Collins used to smoke heavily, but decided to quit in 1. The next day, he spent what he described as the worst four hours of his life in the right hand seat of a bomber flicking switches while going through the initial stages of nicotine withdrawal. The turning point for Collins in his decision to become an astronaut was the Mercury Atlas 6 flight of John Glenn on February 2. Earth in 9. 0 minutes. He immediately applied for the second group of astronauts that year. To raise their numbers, the Air Force sent their best applicants to a charm school. Medical and psychiatric examinations at Brooks Air Force Base, Texas and interviews at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston followed. In mid September he found that he had not been accepted, something that was a blow even though he did not really expect to be accepted. Collins still rates the second group of nine as the best group of astronauts ever selected by NASA. That same year the USAF Experimental Flight Test Pilot School became the USAF Aerospace Research Pilot School, as the Air Force tried to enter into the research of space. Collins applied for a new course offered into the basics of spaceflight other students included Charles Bassett, Edward Givens and Joe Engle. Along with classwork they also flew up to about 9. F 1. 04 Starfighters. Mu Speed Hack. As they passed through the top of their huge arc, they would experience a brief period of weightlessness. Finishing this course he returned to fighter ops in May 1. At the start of June of that year, NASA once again called for astronaut applications. Collins went through the same process as with his first applications, though he did not take the psychiatric evaluation. He was at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas on October 1. Deke Slayton called and asked if he was still interested in becoming an astronaut. Charlie Bassett was also accepted in the same group.