Rest in Space Michael Collins

A Earth Hero passed today. I went back to his fantastic autobiography Carrying the Fire to digitize some of his words. Collins was the best Apollo astronaut writer IMHO:

“My first impression is a feeling of awe at the wide visual field, a sense of release after the narrow restrictions of the tiny Gemini window. My God, the stars are everywhere. The stars are bright and they are steady.

This is the best view of the universe that a human has ever had. We are gliding across the world in total silence, with absolute smoothness; a motion of stately grace which makes me feel God-like as I stand erect in my sideways chariot, cruising the night sky.” (p.221)

“The view is absolutely breathtaking! I will try to explain it. First some arithmetic. At two hundred miles above a sphere whose radius is four thousand, we are just skimming along one twentieth of a radius above the surface. The atmosphere itself is ridiculously thin, thinner than the rind on an orange, and we are just barely above it.

Our much higher orbital velocity is balanced out by our higher altitude, so the angular changes (the most important visual cues of speed) are still within the realm of the commonplace. Although the sky is absolute, unrelieved black instead of blue, the colors below look about the same as they would from an airplane.

Then what is so impressive, what makes it different? Supertourist is up, and what a feeling of power! Those aren’t counties going by, those are continents; not lakes but oceans!

Another difference is that we are above it, and it is uniformly bright. No misty days, no towering thunderheads; all that is below, and superbright in the unfiltered sunlight which spreads a cheeriness over the whole scene below. No doom, no gloom, only optimism. This is a better world than the one down there. Fantastic!” (p.241)

And he cherished the photography:
“an event must be seen to be believed, and a description of a trip without pictures seemed anachronistic at best.” (p.253.)

“I think nirvana must be at an altitude of 250 miles… I am in the cosmic arena, the place to gain a celestial perspective; it remains only to slow down long enough to capture it, even a teacup will do, will last a lifetime below.” (p.243)

Perhaps this contemplation calmed his mind during the turbulent spin of reentry where Collins had the lowest peak heart rate (90 beats/minute) of any of the Gemini astronauts. On their three-day mission, they rendezvoused with two different Agena Target Vehicles, undertook two EVAs, and performed twelve different experiments.

For Michael Collins’ first EVA, he stood up through the hatch with a sextant and captured cherished memories such as this image of Earth streaming by.