Biography

Record-Setting & History Making Facts

The First, The Longest, The Most....

- John Young was the first person to fly into space six times - John Young is the first American to launch into space seven times, counting the lunar liftoff - John Young was the first of the second group of astronauts to make it into space - John Young was the first non-Mercury astronaut to orbit the Earth - John Young is the only astronaut to fly twice in three different space vehicles - Gemini, Apollo, and the Space Shuttle - John Young is the only one of the first 16 astronauts to hold two world aircraft speed records (Apollo 10 and STS-1)

Double-exposure of a Gemini launch with Saturn V rocket in background

"Astronaut John W. Young is an ... intense young man who can't get where he is going fast enough. Attempting to reach his goal, which is always one achievement beyond, the 34-year-old Navy lieutenant commander holds the world record for getting an airplane into the air the fastest, to heights of both 3000 and 25,000 meters." The Evening Star, 3-14-65

GT-3

- John Young was the first person to use an on-board guidance computer

- First spacecraft to simulate rendezvous by changing its orbital height.

- First on-board guidance computer

- First use of the OAMS (Orbit Attitude and Maneuver System)

- First use of the US Syncom 2 communications satellite to relay information from the spacecraft to the ground

- Gus Grissom becomes the first man to fly into space twice

STS-2 launch

STS-2 launch

Med   Lg STS-2 launch

STS-2 launch

STS-2 launch

GT-10

- New manned altitude record - 413 nm - 476 miles

- First mission with two EVA's

- First spaceship to use the fuel and propulsion system of another craft to power its own flight

- First double rendezvous - Agena X and Agena VIII

- First mission to achieve in one night all of the basic objectives of the Gemini program

- First time the US Flag was painted on a target vehicle

- Michael Collins becomes the first man to work outside his ship twice during the same mission

- Docking with Agena 8 was the first space rendezvous accomplished without use of the on-board radar

- Longest time linked with Agena, beating previous missions, 39 hours

- Collins become first man to touch and retrieve an object from another satellite other than his own spacecraft

- Sealed capsule opened and resealed more times than previous missions, 3

STS-6 launch

STS-7 launch

Apollo 10

- John Young becomes first person to fly solo around the Moon

- First time live color TV pictures were broadcast from space

- Only Apollo mission to launch from Launch Complex 39B

- Largest payload ever placed in earth and lunar orbits

- First demonstration of lunar orbit rendezvous

- First time the complete Apollo spacecraft (command module and lunar module) was operated around the Moon

- Set a record on the return trip to Earth for the fastest speed ever travelled by humans - 24,791 mph (still not broken)

- According to the FAI, Apollo 10 holds a world's record for duration of stay in orbit around a celestial body(one astronaut only on board) - 61h 34mn 39s

STS-6 launch

STS-6 launch

Apollo 16

- Because of engine problems, Apollo 16 had to perform two lunar orbit rendezvous

- Ultraviolet camera/spectrograph used for first time on Moon

- First time the Moon was used as an astronomical laboratory

- Largest payload placed in lunar orbit (34,518 kg/76,100 lbs)

- First cosmic ray detector deployed on lunar surface

- Longest lunar surface EVA (20 hrs, 15 min)

- Largest amount of lunar samples brought to earth (96.6 kg/213 lbs)

- According to the FAI, Apollo 16 holds two world's records

• - Duration of stay on the surface of the celestial body - 71h 02mn 13s
• - Greatest mass landed on the celestial body - 8257.6 kg

STS-1

- John Young becomes the first person to fly in space 5 times

- First time a spacecraft has returned to Earth to be used again

- Columbia was the first manned spaceship tested during ascent, on orbit, and entry without benefit of previous unmanned missions

- First winged reentry vehicle to return from space to a runway landing

- As an airplane, the shuttle broke the altitude record, flying down from 400,000 feet

- The largest manned spacecraft ever launched

- The first winged spacecraft to be put into orbit

- The first spacecraft to carry humans aloft on its maiden flight

- First spacecraft to ride piggy-back on its main fuel tank

- First solid-fuel rockets ever used for a manned space flight

- Biggest solid-fuel rockets ever used in the space program with a total thrust of 5.3 million pounds

- As a glider, set speed and distance records - after entering the atmosphere it was going more than 4000 mph and traveled a distance of 2000 miles to touchdown

- The most complex machine ever placed in Earth orbit - required the controls, measuring devices and structure of a rocket, spacecraft, and airplane combined in one package

STS-7 launch

STS-41C launch

STS-9

- John Young becomes the first person to fly in space 6 times

- First time the solid rocket fuel boosters had been reused

- First time the Spacelab research module flew in space

- The largest shuttle crew (6) to date

- The longest shuttle mission (10 days) to date

- First time a shuttle crew worked around the clock

- First time leaders of two nations talked with orbiting astronauts at the same time on a joint linkup (U.S. President Ronald Reagan and West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl)

- First time a non-American flies on the shuttle - Ulf Merbold, West German physicist

- First astronaut to speak directly to people on Earth from the spacecraft (via ham radio) - Owen Garriott

- First non-astronaut payload specialists to fly aboard a U.S. spacecraft - Byron Lichtenberg and Ulf Merbold

- The mission set a new record for covering the Earth's surface, more than 90% of the populated areas, including all ESA nations.

- Columbia flew in a 155-mile orbit inclined 57 degrees to the equator, which was the highest inclination of any American manned spaceflight.

- The payload was the heaviest that had been brought back to Earth at that time. It weighed a half ton more than the 32,000 pound maximum that had been calculated in 1981.

- The first element of the Presidential Space Task Group Report of 1969, the ground-to-orbit transport, was fully realized with Spacelab 1.