Born on October 31, 1930 in Rome, Italy, Michael Collins is sometimes known as a the “Forgotten Astronaut” of the Apollo 11 mission. As a child, he lived in Oklahoma, New York, Texas, Virginia, and Puerto Rico. Finally, he settled in to attend school in Washingtion D.C. He graduated from Saint Albans School in Washington D.C. and received his Bachelor of Science in 1952 from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. He worked for the US Air Force flying F-86 fighter jets before becoming a flight test officer in Edwards Air Force Base, California and has logged about 5,000 hours flying. Soon after, he applied to become an astronaut for NASA, but he kept trying and his resiliency paid off. His third application was successful
