Michael Collins was an American astronaut with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) (1963-70), and was best-known as the pilot of the command module of Apollo 11, which made the first manned lunar landing July 20, 1969 (Collins orbited the Moon while astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed and explored the surface of the Moon). He was the third American to "walk in space" and the first to space walk from one spacecraft to another (Gemini 10, July 1966). General Michael Collins later served as the director of the National Air and Space Museum (1971-78), and Undersecretary of the Smithsonian Institution from (1978-80).

His career with the U.S. Air Force stretched from 1952 until 1970, and also included a stint as a fighter pilot and experimental test pilot at the Air Force Flight Test Center, Edwards Air Force Base, California (1959-63).

Date and place of birth: October 31, 1930, at 16 Via Tevere, Rome, Italy

Marriage
Wife: Patricia Mary Finnegan (m. April 28, 1957)

Children
Son: Michael Lawton Collins (b. February 23, 1963)

Daughters: Kathleen (b. May 6, 1959)
Ann Stewart (b. October 31, 1961)

Parents
Father: James Collins (a U.S. Army officer)
Mother: Virginia (Stewart) Collins