Talk:Michael Collins (astronaut)

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This article is written in American English, which has its own spelling conventions (color, defense, traveled) and some terms that are used in it may be different or absent from other varieties of English. According to the relevant style guide, this should not be changed without broad consensus.

Michael Collins (astronaut) is a featured article; it (or a previous version of it) has been identified as one of the best articles produced by the Wikipedia community. Even so, if you can update or improve it, please do so.

This article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page as Today's featured article on October 31, 2019.

Article milestones
Date	Process	Result
February 18, 2008	Peer review	Reviewed
October 22, 2018	Good article nominee	Listed
January 7, 2019	Good topic candidate	Not promoted
February 1, 2019	WikiProject A-class review	Approved
March 9, 2019	Featured article candidate	Not promoted
April 11, 2019	Featured article candidate	Promoted
A fact from this article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "Did you know?" column on July 21, 2019. The text of the entry was: Did you know ... that Michael Collins (pictured), the command module pilot for Apollo 11, was the first person to perform two spacewalks in a single mission?
A news item involving this article was featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "In the news" column on April 28, 2021.
Facts from this article were featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "On this day..." column on October 31, 2020, and October 31, 2022.
Current status: Featured article

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Director of the National Air and Space Museum

Could not have ended on April 11, 1971. The cited source is for a different position. In the next section, it says he was there until 1978. Szerki (talk) 01:56, 2 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Done The text was referring to his role as his term as Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs. Changed text to make this clearer. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 03:11, 2 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Units, altitude

Inconsistent primary unit vs conversion unit for orbital altitudes, sometimes miles, sometimes kilometers. I'd straighten it out myself but unsure which order to use. Always thought NASA preferred nautical miles anyway. Also in the Gemini 10 section, all mission times are ambiguous AM vs PM. Launch at 05:20 local? Rairden (talk) 01:11, 4 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Done The order can be found in WP:UNITS: In non-scientific articles with strong ties to the United States, the primary units are US customary. This creates all sorts of problems, but I think JustinTime55 and I have resolved them. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 20:13, 5 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Michael Collins

He is still living. You have him as passed. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:980:C003:86D0:7592:BDC4:7BE0:47C9 (talk) 18:31, 20 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Would you please point out where the article states Collins is no longer living? After a quick review, I could not find it. Skeet Shooter (talk) 20:28, 20 July 2019 (UTC)[reply]

He commanded Apollo 11. Should be opening line

After a first sentence, I expected to see the word "Apollo 11". That is: before a career summary. Not after four long sentences. (e.g., is this article a TFA for Collins being "major general of the United States [not US?, wiki] Air Force Reserves"); "part of the third group of fourteen astronauts", "he flew into space twice", "he and Command Pilot John Young", did "orbital rendezvous with two different spacecraft and undertook two extravehicular activities (EVAs, also known as spacewalks)". 72 words.

Then, at last, the 1st para ends saying: "His second spaceflight was as command module pilot for Apollo 11." (no more).

A deface. -DePiep (talk) 21:58, 29 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Initial improvements: [1]. -DePiep (talk) 22:10, 29 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Agree, nice work. I added the full names of his fellow crewmembers in the links and upper cased 'Moon'. This is Collins' historical legacy. Randy Kryn (talk) 22:19, 29 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]

I think it is weird to throw it out of chronological order, and if we cannot keep a reader's attention for the first paragraph of the intro (the fourth sentence even!), we have bigger problems. That said, I pretty much only revert vandalism (which, obviously this is not), so I will let it stand but I liked it better before. Kees08 (Talk) 22:23, 29 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]

No chron order needed IMO. Let's do highlights, and well-witten ;-) -DePiep (talk) 22:28, 29 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Collins doesn't need a c.v. does he? -DePiep (talk) 22:29, 29 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Eh, I never did like writing intros in the first place, and it looks like I am in the minority. Happy to be proved wrong on preference, makes no difference to me really. Improve the article too if you get a chance :). Let me know if you need access to any of the sources and I can scan some in. Kees08 (Talk) 22:54, 29 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]

@DePiep: P.S., in case you wanted his c.v... Kees08 (Talk) 07:43, 30 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Looks great now, thanks to all. -DePiep (talk) 09:26, 30 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Middle name

Do we really not know his middle name? This source gives the middle initial at "L." but I doubt he is one of those rare people that has an initial as a middle name. --- Coffeeandcrumbs 05:11, 1 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

I think you are looking at the wrong line in the source. That is Michael L. Coats. I have no evidence that Collins had a middle name. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 06:54, 1 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Yep, Hawkeye's right. No L for Michael. The older brother ie the first born, James Lawton Collins Jr., got the family tradition Lawton per his father and uncle. Lawton comes from someone his grandfather worked for (per this and this), and whose daughter he married, so seems to be his grandmother's nee name. I'd expect the plaque in Rome would have his middle name or initial if one existed. (They don't call him Hawkeye for nothing!) JennyOz (talk) 07:43, 1 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Self-trout --- Coffeeandcrumbs 12:29, 1 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

image change

@Mndata2, I'm not sure Special:Diff/1020364435 is an improvement? It would help if you'd use edit summaries to explain why you're doing something. "Added image" doesn't explain why you think the image you added is better than the one you replaced. —valereee (talk) 18:04, 28 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I only temporarily removed the picture of Collins in a simulator, which I swiftly reinstated below.

The main answer to your question is that I found it extraordinary that the main article about the Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins did not include a single photo of either of the other two astronauts, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin – so I added one. I do believe this is an improvement, and the other photo is still there. Mndata2 (talk) 18:56, 28 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@Mndata2, that's cool, just explain so we know what you're doing. That's particularly important when an article is being heavily edited, and in general also when the article is a featured article, both of which are true in this case. —valereee (talk) 20:29, 28 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Cause of death?

I bet it's smoking. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2603:8080:8c02:1e2f:71c4:3557:31eb:4eb0 (talk) 19:50, September 20, 2021 (UTC)

The family statement said simply "cancer" and that's what the article reports; that's sufficient.

The man was 90, lots of cancers can get you by then. There's no point in speculating on what might have been the underlying cause of whatever type of cancer he had. TJRC (talk) 19:59, 20 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

"Parent?"

Why is Michael Collins' father listed as a parent but not his mother? Both are mentioned in the "Early Life" section. Though little seems to be written about her, she was alive well past Apollo 11. Is there some reason she isn't listed as Michael's mother or is it just an oversight? 174.34.1.183 (talk) 03:42, 22 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Because the "relatives" section of the infobox is for notable relatives ie those with Wikipedia articles. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 04:26, 22 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]