John Young (astronaut)

John Young
Young in 2002
Born	John Watts Young (1930-09-24)September 24, 1930 San Francisco, California, U.S.
Died	January 5, 2018(2018-01-05) (aged 87) Houston, Texas, U.S.
Resting place	Arlington National Cemetery
Education	Georgia Institute of Technology (BS)
Awards	Distinguished Flying Cross Congressional Space Medal of Honor NASA Distinguished Service Medal
Space career
NASA astronaut
Rank	Captain, USN
Time in space	34d 19h 39m
Selection	NASA Group 2 (1962)
Total EVAs	3
Total EVA time	20h 14m
Missions	Gemini 3 Gemini 10 Apollo 10 Apollo 16 STS-1 STS-9
Mission insignia
Retirement	December 31, 2004

John Watts Young (September 24, 1930 – January 5, 2018) was an American astronaut, naval officer and aviator, test pilot, and aeronautical engineer. He became the ninth person to walk on the Moon as commander of the Apollo 16 mission in 1972. He is the only astronaut to fly on four different classes of spacecraft: Gemini, the Apollo command and service module, the Apollo Lunar Module and the Space Shuttle.

Before becoming an astronaut, Young received his Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and joined the U.S. Navy. After serving at sea during the Korean War he became a naval aviator and graduated from the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School. As a test pilot, he set several world time-to-climb records. Young retired from the Navy in 1976 with the rank of captain.

In 1962, Young was selected as a member of NASA Astronaut Group 2. He flew on the first crewed Gemini mission (Gemini 3) in 1965, and then commanded the 1966 Gemini 10 mission. In 1969, he flew as command module pilot on Apollo 10, and became the first person to orbit the Moon alone. In 1972, he commanded Apollo 16 and spent three days on the lunar surface exploring the Descartes Highlands with Charles Duke. Young also commanded STS-1 in 1981, the Space Shuttle program's first launch, and STS-9 in 1983, both of which were on Columbia. He was one of only two astronauts, along with Ken Mattingly, his command module pilot during the Apollo 16 mission, to fly on both an Apollo mission and a Space Shuttle mission, and the only astronaut to walk on the Moon and fly on the Space Shuttle. Young served as Chief of the Astronaut Office from 1974 to 1987, and retired from NASA in 2004, after 42 years of service.