Remembering Michael Collins

In a recent TPT article, I asserted that the greatest legacy of the manned space missions of the 1960s and ’70s was the generations of young men and women whom they inspired to enter STEM-based careers.¹ For example, my passion for physics was primarily motivated by the Gemini flights and Apollo Moon landings. As kids, my brother and I started each day with a hearty glass of Tang®, “the drink of astronauts,” in the hopes of one day walking on the Moon.² We used black magic markers to color the sides of our white winter hats to give us homemade Apollo communications caps (better known as “Snoopy caps”). However, nothing quite captured my imagination like the events of Apollo 11—arguably the greatest feat in the history of piloted flight and the defining technical feat of the 20th century. I remember sitting in front of my grandparents’ black-and-white television,...