Moon landing: Michael Collins exposes 'something we never talked about' from Apollo 11

On July 20, 1969, NASA completed the seemingly impossible Apollo 11 mission to put the first two men – Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin – on the Moon. Mr Armstrong made history, jumping off the lunar lander Eagle and delivering his legendary “one small step” speech to the millions watching back on Earth. The late astronaut became an overnight sensation after planting the US flag into the lunar surface and bringing an end to the Space Race with the Soviet Union.

On return to Earth, Armstrong was questioned by the general public for shying away from the limelight and notoriously avoiding interviews, leading some to question whether the entire mission was faked.

But his fellow colleague, Mr Collins, revealed there was one shocking thing that people don’t talk about.

He told PBS’s Christiane Amanpour earlier this month: “I think of all the things that happened on Apollo 11, I always regard the flight to and from the Moon as a long and gradual daisy chain of events.

“But the one that I think is unanimous favourite would be when those three parachutes open, wow – up until then you thought you were coming home – but you couldn’t be 100 percent sure.

Michael Collins made an admission

Michael Collins made an admission (Image: GETTY/PBS)

The Apollo 11 crew

The Apollo 11 crew (Image: GETTY)

It was not something we ever talked about

Michaeol Collins

“But when you see those beautiful on top of the Apollo command module, you say ‘here we go, it’s all okay.’”

Mr Collins went on to reveal how all three of them were well aware that death was a possibility, but they would never speak of it.

He added: “I certainly know the three of us were keenly aware of the dangers involved.

“But it was not something we ever talked about, we never said whether it was too dangerous or we shouldn’t do it.

“It was way back in some obscure dark corner of our minds, but we had more important things to do, or more immediate things to take care of.”

READ MORE: ‘Has anyone considered that?’ Neil deGrasse Tyson exposes Apollo 11 flaw

The parachutes opening

The parachutes opening (Image: NASA)

On a lighter note, Mr Collins then went on to detail his fonder memories from Apollo 11.

“It was certainly an impressive view [on the Moon] from that tiny little slither that lives above my backyard.

“It had been replaced by a gigantic tree dimensional bulbous thing that was almost trying to push its way into our window.

“The Sun was coming from behind and its rays were cascading around the rim, it gave it a wonderful illumination and accentuating the highs of the craters and the lows of the ground where they were raised.”

Previously, Dr Tyson also cleared-up Armstrong’s post-flight actions during his StarTalk podcast, confirming this was natural behaviour for Armstrong.

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Michael Collins was relieved to get back to Earth

Michael Collins was relieved to get back to Earth (Image: PBS)

Buzz Aldrin on the Moon

Buzz Aldrin on the Moon (Image: GETTY)

He told listeners in July: “Neil Armstrong was not gregarious, he was a very quiet man and did not seek publicity. 

“He was not the life of the party, but sometimes the people who are not the life of the party are sitting doing nothing. 

He’s sitting there, in his head, figuring stuff out, it’s the active mind of a restless brain of the engineer. 

This is what was captured.” 

Fellow NASA astronaut Mike Massimino was a guest on the show and gave his own verdict. 

Moon landing timeline

Moon landing timeline (Image: GETTY)

He added: “When I first met Neil, he got up in front of us and it was like we’re meeting our hero. 

“He’s the man, right? But he gets up there and it seemed like he was almost painfully shy, like it was hard for him to talk. 

“He didn’t mention the Moon at all, he talked about test flying and how important that is and how you have to be diligent about it and how much he loved it. 

“After he was done we got to the questions and answers, then we asked him what it was like on the Moon. 

“But up to that point, he was delivering his message and almost painfully shy, but he loved so much what he did that’s what he focused on.” 

source: express.co.uk