Apollo 11’s ‘amiable strangers’
By MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Mission commander Neil Armstrong was the flying ace, Buzz Aldrin the scholar. Michael Collins was a crack test pilot, too, but also a wordsmith who described the trio as “amiable strangers.” Apollo 11’s astronauts had six months to gel as a crew and prepare for humanity’s greatest space feat. The three had never served together on the same spaceflight before, and the “almost frantic” preparation left little if any time for bonding, Collins said. “Apollo 11 was a little different than some of the other ...
