So I remember when we first started recording the interviews for this podcast, we'd arrived

in the United States in Florida on the western side of the Everglades and I was in a car

park at the cheap hotel, getting out of the car on a clear night and I looked up into

the sky and I could see the moon there hanging a quarter of a million miles away and I

had this thought that the next day would see me interviewing someone who had actually flown

there as part of the first mission to land people on the moon.

That person was Michael Collins, he, along with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Orden completed

the Apollo 11 crew.

He'd been keeping watch over them in orbit around the moon as they undertook their attempt

at a landing on the surface and I was excited about meeting this 88 year old veteran

astronaut but a little nervous too.

And I spent a somewhat restless night tossing and turning wondering how the whole thing would

go.

Where'd you guys come from?

London and England so I arrived two days ago and we arrived yesterday.

But when we got to his house he had plenty to say, I never needed to worry about that

and he was particularly clear about who and what he believed project Apollo had been

for.

The subject of nationalism comes up frequently today and it is sometimes applied to the Apollo

program.

I think that is way wrong.

I'm harkening back to the trip that the crew of Apollo 11, the three of us took around

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