"We need to explore for our
grandchildren... We won't just be doing it to get out there in space, we'll
be doing it because the things we learn out there will be making life better
for a lot of people who won't be able to go. That's what the purpose of
it is."
- John Young
Young with visitors
Young with visitors from the People's Republic of China
- Selected as commander for STS-1 - March 16, 1978.
"With his unlined face, his mere hint of gray and his sometimes wryly self-effacing
manner, John W. Young doesn't exactly look or act the part. But at the age of
50 he is the chief, the astronaut's astronaut, the dean of the corps, the
wise old man among spacefarers."
- New York Times, 4-13-81
