22 July 2009 Day the moon man came to Lincoln University

In July 1969 he was one of the three most famous men in the world  -  Colonel Michael Collins, pilot of Apollo 11’s command module, from which fellow astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made man’s first descent to the surface of the moon.

Eighteen year’s later, in September 1987, Michael Collins made a  “low profile” visit to Christchurch, his presence in the city hardly known at all. He came as a member of the US National Geographic Society’s exploration and research committee, and the request went out from the organisers that this was a “working trip” by society members and it would be appreciated if they could be spared media attention.

Collins and the American group spent a day and a night in Christchurch visiting Lincoln University, the DSIR (as it then was), Canterbury Museum and the Botanic Gardens.

“It was the best story I never did,” says journalist Ian Collins (no relation!) of Lincoln University’s Communications Group.

“Here we had this world figure on-campus but I couldn’t tell anyone about it, other than those directly involved with the visit.

“I remember that when we were preparing the programme for the group I rang the US Embassy in Wellington to check on any media coverage protocols and they said they didn’t even know Collins was coming to New Zealand.

“It was very much a National Geographic Society visit and the group included prominent American Everest mountaineer Barry Bishop, who had climbed in the past with Sir Edmund Hillary and Peter Mulgrew.”

At Lincoln University the former lunar astronaut and party were shown research work in horticulture and sheep and deer breeding.

“He was certainly just one of the group with his fellow Americans and didn’t draw attention to himself in any way,” says Ian Collins. “He seemed almost to have a ‘down home’ presence, although you knew that wasn’t the case given his background of immense achievements in the US lunar programme and before that as an air force test pilot.

“I guess this was the age before the cult of celebrity.”

At the time of his visit to Lincoln University Michael Collins was 56 and had retired from NASA. He was head of his own company in the business world.