Veteran astronaut John Young archived a number of milestones over the course of his 42 year career at NASA: a Navy pilot who served during the Korean War, he flew in space six time with some of the agency’s biggest programs, was the ninth person to walk on the moon, and the first to pilot the Space Shuttle. NASA announced earlier today that Young died at the age of 87 due to complications from pneumonia.

Born on September 24th, 1930, Young attended the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he earned his degree in aeronautical engineering in 1952. From there, he joined the US Navy, served aboard the USS LAWS during the Korean War, and went on to attend the Navy Test Pilot School. In 1962, NASA selected him as part of Astronaut Group 2, the second batch of pilots that included Neil Armstrong, Frank Borman, Pete Conrad, Jim Lovell, James McDivitt, Elliot See, Thomas Strafford, and Ed White.

At NASA, Young enjoyed a notable career. Along with fellow astronaut Gus Grissom, he was the pilot for Gemini 3 on March 23rd, 1965, the first crewed mission of the program. Together, they orbited Earth three times, testing thrusters that allowed the crew to maneuver in space, and was later reprimanded for smuggling a corn beef sandwich for the ride.

Young returned to space on July 18th 1966 as the Command Pilot for Gemini 10, along with future Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins. The two spent almost three days in space, completing 43 orbits of Earth. During that time, they performed rendezvous maneuvers with a pair of Agena target vehicles that were already in orbit.

From there, Young joined the Apollo program, where he was assigned to the Apollo 7 backup crew as the Command Module Pilot, along with astronauts Thomas Stafford and Eugene Cernan. That crew later became the prime crew for Apollo 10, which performed a “dress rehearsal” in May 1969 for the Apollo 11 mission later that summer. He also served as the backup commander for Apollo 13, and was involved in the efforts to bring the crew home after an explosion crippled the spacecraft.

In 1972, as Commander for the Apollo 16 mission, Young became the ninth person to walk. Along with Charlies Duke Jr., he landed in the Descartes Highlands on April 21st, where they spent three days on the lunar surface. There, they set up scientific equipment, collected 200 pounds of rocks, and used their lunar rover to drive over 16 miles. According to David Hitt and Heather R. Smith in Bold They Rise: The Space Shuttle Early Years, 1972-1986, Young learned that Congress had approved funds for the development of NASA’ next big project, the Space Shuttle.

After his return to Earth, the shuttle would become Young’s next focus. NASA promoted him to Chief of the Space Shuttle Branch of the Astronaut Office in 1973, and then the entire Astronaut Office, which oversees training and operations of the Astronaut corps. He helped develop the training protocols for the crews that would fly the space shuttle, and was named Command Pilot for the program’s maiden flight with Space Shuttle Columbia in April 1981, spending two days in space.

His sixth and final flight came in November 1983, when he commanded Columbia on the STS-9 mission, which tested out a variety of scientific experiments with the Spacelab module. He was scheduled to fly for a seventh time to launch the Hubble Space Telescope in 1986, only to have that mission scrubbed following the loss of Space Shuttle Challenger. He later served as Special Assistant to the Director of Johnson Space Center for Engineering, Operations, and Safety.

While Young retired from NASA in 2004, he remained a constant figure at the agency, Young remained at NASA until 2004, when he retired at the age of 74. Over his 42 year career at the space agency, Young played key roles in some of NASA’s defining moments, and helped transition the agency from its focus on reaching the Moon with Gemini and Apollo to the Space Shuttle era.

In a statement, acting NASA Administrator Robert Lightfoot said that Young was one of the “early space pioneers whose bravery and commitment sparked our nation’s first great achievements in space,” who spent his entire life in the service to his country, and that he was “in every way the ‘astronaut’s astronaut.’”

https://www.theverge.com/2018/1/6/16857904/astronaut-john-young-gemini-apollo-16-space-shuttle-obituary