Neil Armstrong’s Apollo 11 spacesuit is unveiled at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum on the National Mall in Washington, Tuesday, July 16, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) 
Neil Armstrong’s Apollo 11 spacesuit is unveiled at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum on the National Mall in Washington, Tuesday, July 16, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) 
Rick Armstrong, the son of Neil Armstrong, left, and Vice President Mike Pence, right, shake hands after unveiling Neil Armstrong’s Apollo 11 spacesuit at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum on the National Mall in Washington, Tuesday, July 16, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, Pool) 
In this July 20, 2009 file photo, Apollo 11 astronauts, from left, Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins and Neil Armstrong stand in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, on the 40th anniversary of the mission’s moon landing. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) 
In this July 20, 1969 photo made available by NASA, astronaut Buzz Aldrin Jr. poses for a photograph beside the U.S. flag on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission. Aldrin and fellow astronaut Neil Armstrong were the first men to walk on the lunar surface with temperatures ranging from 243 degrees above to 279 degrees below zero. Astronaut Michael Collins flew the command module. (Neil Armstrong/NASA via AP) 
This March 30, 1969 photo made available by NASA shows the crew of the Apollo 11, from left, Neil Armstrong, commander; Michael Collins, module pilot; Edwin E. “Buzz” Aldrin, lunar module pilot. Apollo 11 was the first manned mission to the surface of the moon. (NASA via AP) 
FILE – In this July 16, 1969 file photo, from right, Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin walk to the van that will take the crew to the launchpad at Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Florida. (AP Photo/File)
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. | Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins returned Tuesday to the exact spot where he and two other astronauts flew to the moon 50 years ago.
At NASA’s invitation, Michael Collins spent the golden anniversary at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A in Florida. He marked the precise moment — 9:32 a.m. on July 16, 1969 — that their Saturn V rocket departed on humanity’s first moon landing. Buzz Aldrin was an unexplained no-show. Mission commander Neil Armstrong — who took the first lunar footsteps — died in 2012.
Collins said he wished Aldrin and Armstrong could have shared the moment at the pad.
It was “a wonderful feeling to be back,” the 88-year-old astronaut said in an interview on NASA TV. “There was a difference this time. I want to turn and ask Neil a question and maybe tell Buzz Aldrin something, and of course, I’m here by myself.”
The return kicked off a week of celebrations marking each day of Apollo 11’s eight-day voyage. Collins remained in orbit during the mission while Armstrong and Aldrin walked on the moon.
At the Air and Space Museum in Washington, the spacesuit that Armstrong wore is back on display in mint condition. On hand for the unveiling were Vice President Mike Pence, NASA chief Jim Bridenstine and Armstrong’s son, Rick.
A fundraising campaign took just five days to raise the $500,000 needed for the restoration.
Calling Armstrong a hero, Pence said “the American people express their gratitude by preserving this symbol of courage.”
In Huntsville, Alabama, where the Saturn V was developed, thousands of model rockets were launched simultaneously, commemorating the moment the Apollo 11 crew blasted off for the moon.