[1][2] The name Columbia was first suggested to Michael Collins by Julian Scheer, NASA assistant administrator of public affairs during the Apollo program.

Collins initially thought it was "a bit pompous" but the name eventually stuck as he could not think of a better alternative and his crewmates Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong had no objections.

[3] Collins was also influenced to accept the name because of its similarity to Columbiad, the name of the space gun in Jules Verne's 1865 science fiction novel From the Earth to the Moon.

[1] It was designated a "Milestone in Flight" and displayed prominently at National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., alongside the 1903 Wright Flyer.

[9] In 2019, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing, the spacecraft traveled around the country on a tour to museums in Houston, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Seattle, and Cincinnati.