A couple of months ago, the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing was remembered with numerous documentaries and interviews, as well as special celebratory events. Apollo 11 mission commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar Module Pilot (LMP) Buzz Aldrin had trod on the surface of the Moon on July 20, 1969.

The milestone prompted me to reread the autobiography of Michael Collins, the third astronaut of the Apollo 11 crew. “Carrying The Fire: An Astronaut’s Journeys” (Farrar, Straus and Geroux) had originally been published in 1974, and he’d written new prefaces for new editions published in 2009 and 2019.