Palace Revolt
Houston informed Apollo 11 in mid-flight that the Soviet Union's Pravda had referred to Armstrong as "Czar of the Ship," and Mike Collins never let him forget it during the mission. After Armstrong and Aldrin in their Eagle lunar craft had separated from Collin's Columbia to get ready for the mothership, "All I can say is, beware the Revolution!"

Evasive Action
Knowing the question was inevitable - the news media had asked it before every manned journey - Michael Collins was ready when a reporter at the maiden moon-landing mission's prelaunch press conference queried, "What's the most dangerous part of this flight?"
"That part," replied the astronaut, "which we have overlooked in our preparations."

Going Down in What?
A reporter covering Apollo 11 put the question to Collins' young son Michael: "What do you think about your father going down in history?"
"Fine," the boy said agreeably. Then he thought a moment and candidly asked, "What is history, any way?"

Tied for First?
Aldrin, a lifelong super achiever, was not particularly happy about being the second man to walk on the moon. He thought the first footprint there should have been his, not Armstrong's. But afterward, Aldrin accentuated the positive by pointing out to people, "We both landed at the same time."

The Third Man
As for Collins, he took a rather good-naturedly resigned, philosophical view of his being the only member of the Apollo 11 crew who didn't walk on the moon at all. As he put it: I'm going to be like the man who flew the Atlantic after Lindberg - old what's his name."

Close-up view
More than a trace of envy showed in a remark by an Apollo 12 capsule communicator, astronaut Paul Weitz, when Bean radioed that the approaching moon was "very stark and beautiful from this point of view, and I imagine it's going to be even more impressive tomorrow."
Weitz, thinking of the coming moonwalk, quipped: "It will probably be very impressive from a distance of around three or four feet."

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