Apollo 11 astronaut who stayed in orbit while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon opened up about his ‘lonely’ experience

When you hear the phrase Apollo 11, you often think of the iconic American space mission that landed astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon.

But the man who doesn’t always come to mind is Michael Collins, who is famous for never setting foot on the moon despite piloting the first-ever successful spaceflight.

After completing the first successful human expedition to the moon, you’d think the trio would be honored upon arrival – but Collins reveals the shocking measures they took upon their arrival.

Before his death in 2021, he told 60 Minutes Australia: ‘We were quarantined for two weeks. Some of our scientists were concerned about the pathogens we might have brought from the moon, potentially dangerous to humanity.

The legendary astronaut added, “So their solution to that was to put us in a hermetically sealed container with a giant colony of white mice.

He explained the strange measures: ‘(If) the white mice lived we were fine, (if the) white mice died we were in big trouble.

“Of course I was checking them – there were too many to name, but they became my friends.”

Fortunately, the mice survived – and so did the trio.

Collins was adamant that he was fine with receiving less recognition than his equally legendary peers.

He said, ‘Tto be a small part of that (mission) suited me very, very well.

The astronaut joked, “Besides, I was their ticket home – they couldn’t go home without me.”

He refuted claims of loneliness, telling NPR on the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11, “I mean, loneliness — some people are the loneliest — for a lifetime or a month or a year. I mean, for eight days back and forth, I don’t think loneliness really plays a part, except it seemed to be in the minds of the press at the time.”

But he admitted in his autobiography Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut’s Journeys, “I know I would be a liar or a fool if I said I have the best of the three Apollo 11 seats.”

Adding: “But I can say with truth and equanimity that I am perfectly satisfied with the one I have,” he said in his autobiography.

His crewmates spent time collecting moon rock, in utter awe, while Collins chose to orbit the moon alone for nearly 28 hours, in complete darkness.

Collins graduated in 1952 with a degree in military science from the United States Military Academy, following in the footsteps of his father and older brother.

He then joined the US Air Force as a test pilot before being selected by NASA’s prestigious Apollo program in 1963.

But he wasn’t always so optimistic.

He suffered a blow to his confidence the year before when NASA rejected him as one of nine astronauts for their 1962 Gemini program.

Collins said, “One part clever logic and nine parts blind luck qualified me.”

Like Armstrong, Collins was only 38 when he completed spaceflight.

And shockingly, he was on a measly $17,000 a year, despite being one of NASA’s best trained command module pilot who risked his life to make history.

He told The New York Times of the pressure the trio faced: “We were our nation’s envoys, and it would be a national disgrace if we screwed up.”

Interestingly, the 1969 landing wasn’t Collins’ first shot at success – but untimely back surgery prevented him from participating in the Apollo 8 orbit during Christmas 1968.

Apollo 8 orbited the moon a total of 10 times, without even landing — but astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders became the first people to photograph Earth’s rise.

It was the first crewed spaceflight mission in NASA’s Apollo program.