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    Not Steppin' Out

    Apollo astronaut Michael Collins has died aged 90


    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-56921562

    #2
    I was pondering a general thread on this (might have gone for The Third Man, to give you all an annoying zither earworm). On the theme of "the forgotten one(s)", those who played a vital role but didn't get the same level of fame (though in Collins' case, he did get the recognition in official gongs). Many examples from the space programme of course, they made a pretty good movie about them.

    Unfortunately I can't remember the names that have been forgotten.

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      #3
      Fucking hell. I was shitting myself about Liza Minnelli.

      Sorry about the guy mentioned.

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        #4
        I was thinking Joe Jackson

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          #5
          I was thinking JT from Kool and the Gang.

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            #6
            Another Joe Jackson here.

            I listened to Results, the album that Liza Minnelli made with the Pet Shop Boys, yesterday. It still sounds good..

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              #7
              Originally posted by Cal Alamein View Post
              I was thinking Joe Jackson
              Moi aussi.

              Collins designed the Apollo 11 mission patch. I think he also gave up his seat on Apollo 17 to Gene Cernan - who remains the last person to walk on the moon,

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                #8
                I also thought Liza Minelli (currently on my radar due to her role as Lucille 2 in Arrested Development).

                RIP Michael Collins

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                  #9
                  Well it wasn't going to be Mark E Smith.

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                    #10
                    RIP Michael Collins.

                    The crewed moon missions remain, to me, the greatest adventure humanity has had so far.

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                      #11
                      Originally posted by Vicarious Thrillseeker View Post
                      I think he also gave up his seat on Apollo 17 to Gene Cernan - who remains the last person to walk on the moon,
                      I didn't know that. Indeed, RIP Michael Collins.

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                        #12
                        (Joe Jackson x4.)

                        Agree with EEG above: I was a wee boy living in Wyoming during the build-up to Apollo 11 and it was all terribly exciting. We'd rented a house that had a colour TV (ie, at a time when nobody had one in the UK) and the schedules were rammed with space-related stuff. By June, we'd finished school for the summer, so as you might imagine, it was then all a bit disappointing having to return to the UK at the end of the month, going back to school and then straining to watch the actual moon landing on a tiny black-and-white set. (I mean, First World probs and all that, but I kind of wish I'd still been in US for that astonishing moment in history...)

                        RIP Michael Collins. He didn't get to walk on the lunar surface but he flew the bloody command module.

                        He did that.

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                          #13
                          As he continued to orbit the moon solo while the other two were titting about on the surface of the near side, there must have been periods where he was further away from Earth than any other human being.

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                            #14
                            Originally posted by Evariste Euler Gauss View Post
                            RIP Michael Collins.

                            The crewed moon missions remain, to me, the greatest adventure humanity has had so far.
                            Good phrasing, 'achievement' would have been wrong imo but 'adventure' is spot on. Going to the Science Museum and seeing the stuff they used to go to the blooming moon, how tiny and fragile it looks, it's astounding.

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                              #15
                              Originally posted by Vicarious Thrillseeker View Post

                              Moi aussi.

                              Collins designed the Apollo 11 mission patch. I think he also gave up his seat on Apollo 17 to Gene Cernan - who remains the last person to walk on the moon,
                              Only one not to list the crew, IIRC?

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                                #16
                                Originally posted by Rogin the Armchair fan View Post
                                As he continued to orbit the moon solo while the other two were titting about on the surface of the near side, there must have been periods where he was further away from Earth than any other human being.
                                Every human being ever, living or dead, up to the moment that this was taken is in this photograph - except him.

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                                  #17
                                  Struggling to pick out my Auntie Mary, if I'm being honest.

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                                    #18
                                    Originally posted by Snake Plissken View Post

                                    Every human being ever, living or dead, up to the moment that this was taken is in this photograph - except him.
                                    or dead?

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                                      #19
                                      Collins' role was by far the most important - one mistake and he strands two people on the moon and kills himself, and the effects of the extreme solitude while on the dark side of the moon must have been a consideration - he must have had an ice cold temperament, allied with the same bravery the others had. RIP

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                                        #20
                                        Originally posted by ad hoc View Post

                                        or dead?
                                        Yes, unless anyone previously had decided to fire their remains into space in a rocket.

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                                          #21
                                          I've seen some trustworthy recommendations of his Carrying the Fire, so I might get myself a copy to read.

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                                            #22
                                            Originally posted by Balderdasha View Post

                                            Yes, unless anyone previously had decided to fire their remains into space in a rocket.
                                            Yeah, I'm not convinced, that people who say were incinerated in a fire, are in that photo in any meaningful sense. The atomised victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki? In what sense are they "in" that photo

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                                              #23
                                              Unless the blast hurled all their atoms out of the atmosphere yes. I don't see the distinction between hiroshima and nagasaki and most other people tbh, since most bodies get pretty thoroughly atomized in a relatively short period of time.

                                              I was idly grazing on YouTube and there was one of those "an X watches some movies about X and rates them for realism" and since it was irish media celebrity astronaut chris Hadfield I decided to give it a spin.

                                              he only had a few technical quibbles with the film first man, but his main quibble was it made the apollo astronauts look more morose and buttoned down than they actually were, and didn't quite capture how warm and funny these guys were. Essentially a lot of the transcripts of the communications with apollo 11 are a bunch of technical updates shot through with gentle Dad jokes, and mild ribbing. If you're going to be trapped in a small can with three guys for a week, you need the lubrication of humour. There are videos knocking around of Michael Collins giving speeches right up until the start of Covid. Some of his language when he's quoting his speech in 1969 is a bit er archaic, but the man is 88, and he is a bit gung ho, but I'd like to be this sharp at 88



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                                                #24
                                                If we're going down to the atomic level, then don't everyone's cells renew in about 7 years? In which case Michael Collins was as much in that picture as everyone else

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                                                  #25
                                                  I had to remind myself that Stepin Fetchit was already dead.

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