Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins dies aged 90

The Apollo 11 astronaut who stayed in orbit while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon has died age 90.

A family statement said he died on Wednesday "after a valiant battle with cancer" and had "spent his final days peacefully, with his family by his side".

"Mike always faced the challenges of life with grace and humility, and faced this, his final challenge, in the same way," said the statement.

"We will miss him terribly. Yet we also know how lucky Mike felt to have lived the life he did. We will honour his wish for us to celebrate, not mourn, that life."

He spent 48 minutes in each orbit on the "far side of the moon" and in that time lost communication with mission control. Collins said he felt "awareness, anticipation, satisfaction, confidence, almost exultation".

During orbit he mostly performed chores, as well as keeping an eye out for the Eagle lunar module in preparation to meet it again.

He wrote an account of his experiences in his 1974 autobiography, "Carrying the Fire," but largely shunned publicity.

"I know that I would be a liar or a fool if I said that I have the best of the three Apollo 11 seats, but I can say with truth and equanimity that I am perfectly satisfied with the one I have," Collins said in comments released by NASA in 2009.

His strongest memory from Apollo 11, he said, was looking back at the Earth, which he said seemed "fragile".

"I really believe that if the political leaders of the world could see their planet from a distance of 100,000 miles, their outlook could be fundamentally changed. That all-important border would be invisible, that noisy argument silenced," he said.

US President Joe Biden said his prayers were with the Collins family.

"From his vantage point, high above the Earth, he reminded us of the fragility of our own planet, and called on us to care for it like the treasure it is," Mr Biden said in a statement. "Godspeed, Mike."