Astronaut John Young to retire (longest serving astronaut in history)

Associated Press via Houston Chronicle ^ | Dec. 7, 2004, 2:10PM | nobyline

[weegee]

The longest serving astronaut in history made his retirement plans official today.

John W. Young, who has spent 42 years at NASA, plans to leave the space agency on Dec. 31.

Young, who commanded the first shuttle mission and flew twice to the moon, was the first human to fly in space six times and the only astronaut to pilot four different spacecraft. He flew in the Gemini, Apollo and space shuttle programs.

"John's tenacity and dedication are matched only by his humility," said NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe. "He's never sought fame and often goes out of his way to avoid the limelight."

O'Keefe said Young's legacy will inspire space explorers for years to come.

Young joined NASA in 1962. His first mission was in 1965 as a pilot of the first manned flight of the Gemini program. He went on to command the Gemni 10 in 1966, followed by his orbit of the moon in the Apollo Command Module in 1969.

Young went back to the moon in 1972. He and another astronaut collected more than 200 pounds of lunar samples.

"John has an incredible engineering mind, and he sets the gold standard when it comes to asking the really tough questions," said William Readdy, NASA's associate administrator for space operations. "When he talks, everybody listens."

In 1981, Young commanded Columbia during the first space shuttle mission. His final space mission came in 1983, when he again commanded Columbia.

Young worked as chief of the agency's astronaut office for more than a dozen years and as an assistant and associate director of the Johnson Space Center for eight years.

"John Young has no equal in his service to our country and to humanity's quest for space," said Jefferson D. Howell Jr., director of the Johnson Space Center. "He is the astronaut's astronaut, a hero among heroes who fly in space. ...

"He will be missed."

[stevie_d_64]

I'm sorry you met Story...hehehe

[Mamzelle]

re: I remember very well when he and Robert Crippen piloted the first Space Shuttle. I decided on that day that there were no braver men alive!)))

I see this sort of thing quite a bit, and it generally perplexes. When multi-millionaires and rock stars line up to buy a $20M ticket into orbit and space...when tourism now seems to be the only viable economic return on all this exploration...when thousands of poorer folks would line up for the privilege, but couldn't afford it...Wither "courage"--how is it so very brave?

It's a sad thing to watch the greying and stooping astronauts shambling anxiously behind Rutan, who practically bursts out of his flight jacket with sheer self-adoration...the old guys just want a whiff of that old Mission Perfume. Then Rutan gets up behind a podium and brags about how he's going to make "Sex in Space" tourism possible. Tom Wolfe should write a follow-up--Chuck Yeager becomes Sherman McCoy.

Makes me wonder what it was all about, Alfie.

[MarineBrat]

>>...Wither "courage"--how is it so very brave?

They were the first humans to fly in a rocket that had never been test launched. All of the previous times that humans had ridden a rocket to space, that rocket had been flown without humans onboard in test launches. The Shuttle was completely unconventional, and in my mind it took a brave man to go on that first launch. It had not been proven in launch nor reentry. And in fact when I saw the on-orbit photographs of tiles missing from the OHMS pods I thought there was a good chance that Young and Crippen were dead men upon reentry.

[Mamzelle]

It might surprise many to have seen that it was the time after the Mission that required more courage from the astronaut than the Mission itself.

[MarineBrat]

Can you elaborate?

[MikeD]

Not only was the shuttle first flown with men aboard, it was the first time solid rockets had been man-rated. Solid rockets are much more dangerous than liquid rockets because you can't turn them off once they light.

I never thought about Young being the only astronaut to pilot four spacecraft (Gemini, Apollo CM, LEM, Shuttle).

A co-worker of mine was an Astronaut semi-finalist (or was it finalist? -- as far as you get without being an astronaut). Anyway, John Young was one of his interviewers. My co-worker said it was all he could do to talk coherently and not babble "You walked on the Moon, man," and things like that. From all accounts a great guy.