John Young

John Young is a legendary American astronaut, test pilot, and aeronautical engineer who, in 1972, was the ninth person to walk on the Moon as commander of the Apollo 16 mission. Young had the longest, busiest and most diverse career of any astronaut in American history. Over the course of 19 years of active NASA service, he made six spaceflights, the first person to do so; and was the only person to have piloted four different classes of spacecraft: Gemini, the Apollo Command/Service Module, the Apollo Lunar Module, and the Space Shuttle. In 1965, Young flew the on the first manned Gemini mission, and in 1969, was the first person to orbit the moon alone during Apollo 10. He journeyed twice to the Moon and drove the Lunar Roving Vehicle on the Moon's surface. Young also commanded two space shuttle flights, including the historic first Shuttle flight in 1981. In 1974, he became chief of the Astronaut Office after the retirement of Alan Shepard. An honors graduate of Georgia Tech, he joined the U.S. Navy and entered test pilot school and set world records. In 1962, Young was selected to be an astronaut. Over his extraordinary 42-year career, he has earned more than 80 major awards, including the Congressional Space Medal of Honor, three NASA Distinguished Service Medals, three Navy Distinguished Flying Crosses, and induction into the Aviation Hall of Fame and the Astronaut Hall of Fame. John Young addressed the student delegates at the 1993 Achievement Summit in Glacier National Park about space exploration.