Portrait of John Young
NASA
John Young
John Young is an American astronaut who was born on September 24, 1930,
in California. Before he became an astronaut, Young was a Navy fighter
pilot.
Young became an astronaut in 1962. He is the first person to make
six spaceflights. He has spent over 835 hours in space.
Young made his first spaceflight in 1965 aboard Gemini 3. This was the
first manned Gemini mission. Young operated the first computer in
space during this mission. In 1966, he commanded Gemini 10.
Young made his third spaceflight aboard Apollo 10. This was a full dress
rehearsal for landing on the moon. The crew orbited the Moon several
times and tested the lunar module. In 1972, Young actually landed on the
moon and walked its surface during the Apollo 16 mission.
Young made his fifth spaceflight aboard STS-1 in 1981. This was the first
flight of the Space Shuttle. It proved that the shuttle was a reusable
spacecraft.
Young's last spaceflight was aboard STS-9 in 1983. This was the first
Spacelab mission. The crew performed over 70 experiments in atmospheric
physics, Earth observations, astronomy and solar physics, materials
processing, and the life sciences.
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