John Young flown west

[jsstevens]

I don't care what kind of manager or engineer he was. The man had balls of steel that any of us can be jealous of.

No argument from me.

 

[Zeldman]

I have glittery pink plastic balls. @denverpilot gave them to me. I’m jealous of no man with steel balls.

TMI.....

 

[oilburner]

I remember the picture of John Young on the first orbital shuttle mission wearing readers.
Another definition of a badass old man pilot.

 

[denverpilot]

I remember the picture of John Young on the first orbital shuttle mission wearing readers.
Another definition of a badass old man pilot.

Most folks start needing readers at 40. Not that “old”.

 

[Zeldman]

Most folks start needing readers at 40. Not that “old”.

Speak fer yerself....... I didn't need cheaters until I was 48.

 

[Van Johnston]

Here's a pretty good biographical article, published soon after he retired.

https://www.airspacemag.com/space/spaceman-7766826/#dlhMrrFFmdtBqcHS.99

The photo referred to above was on his second flight, at the age of 53, which was ancient for an astronaut then.

I'm a little disillusioned though. Turns out he was a high wing guy.

"Young built his first airplane model when he was six years old: “a high-wing airplane; I think it was a Waco,” he says."

 

[wanttaja]

I remember the picture of John Young on the first orbital shuttle mission wearing readers.
Another definition of a badass old man pilot.

I went to adult space camp at age 46. Remember having problems in the Shuttle cockpits, as my bifocals worked fine for finding switches on the center console, but sucked looking for buttons overhead.....

Ron Wanttaja

 

[Brad Z]

Damn... was I ever off base. I did a quick reread of his history and saw that he was on Gemini 3. I didn't realize or recall that 1 & 2 were unmanned. I should just delete my error laden post. That's embarrassing.

But that's what's so interesting about the Gemini and STS programs...they weren't particularly memorable to the American public. Heck, even landing on the Moon was anti-climatic by the time the third mission launched. In the minds of Americans, the shuttle represented a city bus that flies into low earth orbit. Who'd remember who flew it?

 

[Warlock]

Just noticed this thread...Growing up in the JSC NASA community I have met John Young many times through my life spanning almost 50 years from a small child to within the last year or so sitting next to him in our favorite food establishment Frenchies...for a short time I was his paper boy. He was a true patriot. He an George Abby ran the astronaut office with a firm hand and discipline...more military than civilian I am told. He lived a modest life style in a smaller house built in 1963, and unless you knew who he was you never would know his back ground. Todays Astronaut and even Astronaut candidate would not be caught dead leaving the house with the right NASA jacket or I am an Astronaut hat...RIP John Young you will be missed.

 

[Zeldman]

Todays Astronaut and even Astronaut candidate would not be caught dead leaving the house with the right NASA jacket or I am an Astronaut hat

 

[SkyDog58]

But that's what's so interesting about the Gemini and STS programs...they weren't particularly memorable to the American public. Heck, even landing on the Moon was anti-climatic by the time the third mission launched. In the minds of Americans, the shuttle represented a city bus that flies into low earth orbit. Who'd remember who flew it?

I think your last point is especially true with all of the various mission specialists that went up. Once the astronaut ranks no longer included just hot shot pilots, it did seem more mundane even though the danger was obviously still there. Not quite like flying as a pax in an airliner though.

 

[Warlock]

From an interview on the 25th anniversary of STS-1 and how it compared to others...sort of tells a lot about the man in a few words...

"Well, I mean, all the flights I had was a lot of fun, and I learned a lot from each one of them. And when you're working on a particular flight, if you're not worried about that one the most of all, chances are you probably won't make it. So I just like each flight individually, because they were, you know, Gemini 3 was a first flight, Gemini 10 was a first flight with a double rendezvous, Apollo 10 was a first flight with going to the moon, Apollo 16 landed and then, and then getting the first shuttle flight was good, and flying the first Spacelab mission, that was good too. So, I had a lot of fun with it. I'd like to fly right now, but my wife would kill me if I did. So I'd better not."

 

[mscard88]

Damn... was I ever off base. I did a quick reread of his history and saw that he was on Gemini 3. I didn't realize or recall that 1 & 2 were unmanned. I should just delete my error laden post. That's embarrassing.

Yeah we're gonna need you to be better prepared if you're gonna post ******** 'Dog.