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John Young (astronaut)

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  • John Watts Young flew in space six times, walked on the Moon, and commanded the first Space Shuttle mission. No other astronaut in history flew in four different classes of NASA spacecraft: Gemini, the Apollo command module, the Apollo Lunar Module, and the Space Shuttle. He was the only person to both walk on the Moon and pilot a shuttle into orbit. He served NASA for 42 years, retiring on the 31st of December 2004, after logging more than 15,275 hours of flight time. What drove a boy from Depression-era Georgia to become the most versatile astronaut in American history? And how did a man famous for smuggling a corned beef sandwich into orbit become the trusted guardian of NASA safety culture for two decades?

  • St. Luke's Hospital in San Francisco is where Young was born on the 24th of September 1930. His father, William Hugh Young, was a civil engineer who lost his job during the Great Depression, and the family moved to Cartersville, Georgia in 1932, and again to Orlando, Florida in 1936. When Young was five years old, his mother was diagnosed with schizophrenia and admitted to Florida State Hospital. Shortly after Pearl Harbor, his father joined the Navy as a Seabee, leaving John and his younger brother Hugh in the care of a housekeeper.

    Orlando High School shaped Young's competitive instincts. He played football, baseball, and track and field before graduating in 1948. A Naval ROTC scholarship took him to the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he graduated second in his class in 1952 with a Bachelor of Science in aeronautical engineering. During one of his midshipman cruises, he worked alongside a fellow student named Thomas P. Stafford, the same man who would command Apollo 10 with Young aboard seventeen years later. Young was commissioned as an ensign in the U.S. Navy on the 6th of June 1952.

  • Young applied to become a naval aviator but was initially assigned as a gunnery officer aboard a ship out of Naval Base San Diego. He deployed to the Sea of Japan during the Korean War as a fire control and division officer. Orders to flight school at Naval Air Station Pensacola arrived in May 1953. He learned on the SNJ-5 Texan, detoured through helicopter training flying the HTL-5 and HUP-2, and eventually received his aviator wings in December 1954.

    Fighter Squadron 103 at NAS Cecil Field assigned him the F9F Cougar. He deployed to the Mediterranean with the Sixth Fleet in August 1956 and flew during the Suez Crisis, though not in combat. By January 1959, he was selected for Class 23 at the United States Naval Test Pilot School, where he again graduated second in his class. At the Naval Air Test Center's Armament Division, he worked alongside future Apollo 13 commander James A. Lovell Jr., testing the F-4 Phantom II's weapons systems.

    In 1962, Young set two world time-to-climb records in the F-4. He reached one altitude in 34.52 seconds and another in 227.6 seconds. Those records brought him to NASA's attention, and in September 1962 he was selected for NASA Astronaut Group 2.

  • In April 1964, Young was named pilot of Gemini 3, commanded by Gus Grissom. The original crew of Alan Shepard and Thomas P. Stafford had been reassigned after Shepard was diagnosed with Meniere's disease. On the 23rd of March 1965, at 9:24 a.m., the capsule launched from LC-19 after a delay caused by a leak in an oxidizer line. Twenty minutes into the flight, Young spotted multiple anomalous system readings and diagnosed a potential issue with the instrument power supply. He switched to the backup power supply, resolving the problem.

    The mission's most discussed moment emerged after landing. Young had smuggled a corned beef sandwich aboard, and he and Grissom shared it while testing food in orbit. The House Committee on Appropriations held a hearing on the incident, with some members arguing the two had disrupted a scheduled food test.

    On the 24th of January 1966, Young was assigned as commander of Gemini 10, with Michael Collins as pilot. The mission launched on the 18th of July 1966, at 5:20 p.m. from LC-19, within a 35-second launch window designed to maximize the chances of a dual rendezvous. Young docked with one Agena target vehicle, then used its engines to maneuver to a second Agena left in orbit by the Gemini 8 mission. The combined maneuvers set new altitude records for a crewed vehicle. Collins performed a spacewalk to retrieve a micrometeorite experiment package from the Gemini 8 Agena. Gemini 10 landed in the western Atlantic on the 21st of July 1966, at 4:07 p.m.

  • On the 18th of May 1969, Apollo 10 launched at 11:49 a.m. with Young as command module pilot, under commander Thomas P. Stafford and lunar module pilot Eugene Cernan. The mission was an F-type: full entry into lunar orbit, full testing of the lunar module, but no landing. The crew named their command module Charlie Brown and their lunar module Snoopy, after the Peanuts comic strip by Charles M. Schulz.

    While Stafford and Cernan flew the lunar module down close to the lunar surface, Young orbited alone in the command module. He became the first person to orbit the Moon alone. The lunar module crew accidentally changed the abort guidance system's setting from attitude hold to automatic, causing the spacecraft to begin searching for the command module on its own. Stafford regained control. Young, tracking from above, had prepared to maneuver to rescue them if the ascent engine failed.

    On the 3rd of March 1971, Young was assigned to command Apollo 16, with Charles Duke and Ken Mattingly. The mission's scientific target was the Descartes Highlands, chosen on June 3 by the Apollo Site Selection Board for its potential to yield older volcanic material than the mare regions visited by earlier missions. Young and Duke conducted three EVAs over April 21-23, 1972. On the first EVA, Young's first words on the surface were: "I'm glad they got ol' Brer Rabbit here, back in the briar patch where he belongs." He accidentally tripped over the cables to the heat flow sensors, irreparably breaking their link to Earth. The crew collected Big Muley, a breccia that was the largest lunar rock brought back from the Moon during the entire Apollo program. They returned their samples on April 27, when the command module landed in the ocean approximately southeast of Christmas Island.

  • In January 1973, Young was placed in charge of the Space Shuttle Branch of the Astronaut Office, serving as a liaison for astronaut input into the orbiter's design. His office recommended changes to the RCS thrusters, star tracker, and thermal radiators. In January 1974, he became Chief of the Astronaut Office after Alan B. Shepard Jr. departed.

    In March 1978, George W. S. Abbey, then deputy director of Johnson Space Center, selected Young to command STS-1 with Robert L. Crippen as pilot. STS-1 launched at 7:00 a.m. on the 12th of April 1981, from LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center, after a scrubbed attempt on April 10 caused by a computer error. Vice President George H. W. Bush called the crew during their first full day in orbit. The crew discovered that some thermal tiles had been lost during launch; a KH-11 KENNEN satellite imaged the orbiter's underside, and engineers determined Columbia could safely reenter. The mission landed at Edwards Air Force Base on April 14.

    In 1983, Young commanded STS-9 aboard Columbia. His crew of six included West German astronaut Ulf Merbold, pilot Brewster H. Shaw, mission specialists Owen K. Garriott and Robert A. Parker, and payload specialist Byron K. Lichtenberg. The flight launched from LC-39A at 11:00 a.m. on November 28, carrying the first Spacelab module. Before reentry, two of Columbia's four primary General Purpose Computers failed. The crew reset them and loaded the Entry Options Control Mode into an alternate computer before landing at Edwards Air Force Base on December 8. Young had been scheduled to command STS-61-J to deploy the Hubble Space Telescope, but the Challenger disaster canceled that mission.

  • After the Challenger disaster, Young publicly blamed the accident on a lack of safety culture within the Space Shuttle program. He testified before the Rogers Commission and argued for comprehensive safety reforms. Young believed his subsequent reassignment in May 1987, when Daniel C. Brandenstein replaced him as Chief of the Astronaut Office, was a direct consequence of that public criticism.

    Reassigned as Special Assistant to Johnson Space Center Director Aaron Cohen, Young continued pushing for concrete fixes: redesigned solid rocket boosters, stronger thermal protection tiles at the chin section, emergency drag parachutes, GPS integration into shuttle navigation, and improved landing simulations. In February 1996, he became Associate Director (Technical) of Johnson Space Center, where he worked on the Shuttle-Mir program and contributed to the design of the International Space Station.

    After retiring on the 31st of December 2004, Young became a public advocate for asteroid impact avoidance, Moon colonization, and climate engineering. He and Robert Crippen appeared together at the 25th anniversary of STS-1 at Kennedy Space Center in April 2006. In November 2011, the two men met with the crew of STS-135, the final Space Shuttle mission. Young co-authored his autobiography, Forever Young, with James R. Hansen in 2012.

    Young died on the 5th of January 2018, at his home in Houston, of complications from pneumonia, at age 87. He was interred at Arlington National Cemetery on the 30th of April 2019. Northrop Grumman named the Cygnus spacecraft for their tenth ISS cargo resupply mission the S.S. John Young; it launched on the 17th of November 2018, and concluded its mission on the 25th of February 2019.

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Common questions

What made John Young unique among all NASA astronauts?

Young is the only astronaut to have flown four different classes of NASA spacecraft: Gemini, the Apollo command module, the Apollo Lunar Module, and the Space Shuttle. He is also the only person to both walk on the Moon and fly on the Space Shuttle.

What was the corned beef sandwich incident during Gemini 3?

During the Gemini 3 flight on the 23rd of March 1965, Young smuggled a corned beef sandwich aboard. He and commander Gus Grissom shared it while testing food in orbit. The House Committee on Appropriations held a hearing on the incident, with some members arguing the two astronauts had disrupted a scheduled food experiment.

Why was Apollo 16's landing delayed?

Shortly after Young and Duke undocked the lunar module, Ken Mattingly reported a problem with the thrust vector controls on the service propulsion system of the command module. This would have prevented the command module from maneuvering if the lunar module could not complete its rendezvous. Mission Control approved the landing after a delay, pushing the surface work 5 hours and 42 minutes behind schedule.

What was John Young's role after the Challenger disaster?

After the Challenger disaster, Young testified before the Rogers Commission and criticized NASA's safety culture. He was reassigned from Chief of the Astronaut Office in May 1987 to Special Assistant to Johnson Space Center Director Aaron Cohen for Engineering, Operations and Safety. He oversaw the redesign of the solid rocket boosters and advocated for drag parachutes, GPS navigation, and stronger thermal protection tiles.

How long did John Young work at NASA, and what did he do after retiring?

Young retired from NASA on the 31st of December 2004, after 42 years of service. After retirement he worked as a public speaker and advocated for asteroid impact avoidance, lunar colonization, and climate engineering. In 2012, he co-authored his autobiography, Forever Young, with James R. Hansen.

What is asteroid 5362 Johnyoung?

Asteroid 5362 Johnyoung is a minor planet named in honor of John Young. It joins the S.S. John Young Cygnus spacecraft and the John Young Parkway in Orlando among the public tributes named after him.

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All sources

55 references cited across the entry

  1. 1bookForever Young: A Life of Adventure in Air and SpaceJohn Young et al. — University Press of Florida — 2013
  2. 2bookBlue PrintGeorgia Institute of Technology — 1952
  3. 3webJohn Watts YoungNavy Office of Information, Biographies Branch — April 10, 1972
  4. 4webJohn W. YoungNASA — December 2018
  5. 5bookWe Have CaptureThomas Stafford et al. — Smithsonian Institution Press — 2002
  6. 6bookOn the Shoulders of Titans: A History of Project GeminiBarton C. Hacker et al. — NASA — 1977
  7. 7webGemini 3David R. Williams — NASA — May 14, 2020
  8. 8bookChariots for Apollo: A History of Manned Lunar SpaceflightCourtney G. Brooks et al. — NASA — 1979
  9. 9bookLost Moon (Apollo 13)Jim Lovell et al. — Pocket Books — 1995
  10. 10webApollo 13 CrewSmithsonian National Air and Space Museum
  11. 11webApollo 16 CrewNational Air and Space Museum
  12. 12bookWhere No Man Has Gone Before: A History of Apollo Lunar Exploration MissionsWilliam David Compton — NASA — 1989
  13. 13bookTo a Rocky Moon: A Geologist's History of Lunar ExplorationDon Williams — The University of Arizona Press — 1993
  14. 14webBack in the Briar PatchEric Jones — NASA — December 7, 2012
  15. 15webALSEP Off-loadEric Jones — NASA — April 24, 2017
  16. 16webThumper/Geophone ExperimentEric Jones — NASA — May 24, 2012
  17. 17webApollo 16 TraversesDefense Mapping Agency — March 1975
  18. 18webStation 1 at Plum CraterEric Jones — NASA — April 7, 2018
  19. 19web61016C. Meyer — NASA — 2009
  20. 20webStation 2 at Buster CraterEric Jones — NASA — May 1, 2018
  21. 21webJohn Young at South Ray CraterDavid Portree — Arizona State University — July 5, 2018
  22. 22webDescartes SurpriseEric Jones — NASA — September 14, 2006
  23. 23webApollo 16 Flight SummaryTim Brandt — NASA — January 19, 2019
  24. 24webApollo 16 TimelineNASA — 2004
  25. 25webApollo 17 CrewSmithsonian National Air and Space Museum — June 9, 2016
  26. 26bookInto the BlackRowland White — Touchstone — 2016
  27. 27webSpace Shuttle Missions SummaryRobert D. Legler et al. — NASA — September 2011
  28. 28webSTS-1NASA — December 8, 2010
  29. 29bookSpace Shuttle: Developing an Icon – 1972–2013Dennis R. Jenkins — Specialty Press — 2016
  30. 30webReport of the Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger AccidentWilliam P. Rogers et al. — NASA — June 6, 1986
  31. 31journalHow Launching Hubble Space Telescope Influenced Space Shuttle Mission OperationsSteven A. Hawley — March 2014
  32. 32webNASA Pioneer Aaron Cohen DiesDavid Steitz et al. — NASA — August 7, 2017
  33. 33webSTS-1 25th Anniversary Interview with John YoungNASA — April 17, 2006
  34. 34webSTS-1 25th Anniversary Interview with Bob CrippenNASA — April 12, 2006
  35. 35webFinal shuttle crew meets men who started it allEric Berger — November 5, 2011
  36. 36webWeddingThe Orlando Sentinel — December 4, 1955
  37. 37newsJohn Young, Who Led First Space Shuttle Mission, Dies at 87Richard Goldstein — January 6, 2018
  38. 38webANC ExplorerUS Army — 2019
  39. 39webNASA Mourns the Passing of Astronaut John Young - NASA ScienceNASA Science Editorial Team — January 6, 2018
  40. 40webHistorical Recipient ListNASA
  41. 41webCollier 1980–1989 RecipientsNational Aeronautic Association — 2020
  42. 42newsAstronauts Laud Gemini as Precursor to ShuttleErin Shay — October 3, 1982
  43. 43webEnshrinee John YoungNational Aviation Hall of Fame
  44. 44newsActivities Honor Gemini AstronautsAmy Clark — March 14, 1993
  45. 45webJohn W. YoungSan Diego Air & Space Museum — 2020
  46. 46webOur AviatorsGeorgia Aviation Hall of Fame — 2020
  47. 47webGolden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of AchievementAmerican Academy of Achievement — 2020
  48. 48newsGeneral James E. Hill Lifetime Space Achievement Award2020
  49. 49webAviation Week's Laureate Awards Past WinnersAviation Week
  50. 50webJohn Young Elementary School HomepageJohn Young Elementary School — 2020
  51. 51newsAstronaut John Young, who grew up in Orlando, dies at 87Brianna Volz — WKMG-TV — January 6, 2018
  52. 52newsWhere Stargazers Can Get The Big PictureCindy Schreuder — October 28, 1990
  53. 53webCygnus Dedicated to Astronaut John YoungBrian Dunbar — NASA — October 25, 2018
  54. 54webCygnus NG-10European Space Agency — 2020
  55. 55web5362 JohnyoungJet Propulsion Laboratory — 2020