John Young, one of only 12 humans to walk on the moon and commander of NASA’s first space shuttle mission, has died. He was 87.

He died Friday following complications from pneumonia, according to a statement from the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The agency didn’t say where he died.

The longest-serving astronaut in the space program, Young’s career began as a Navy test flier. He was the only moon walker to pilot a space shuttle, the first person to go into space six times and the only one to fly and command four types of spacecraft — Gemini, Apollo, lunar module and shuttle.

“NASA and the world have lost a pioneer,” Robert Lightfoot, NASA administrator, said in the statement. “Astronaut John Young’s storied career spanned three generations of spaceflight; we will stand on his shoulders as we look toward the next human frontier.”

Young’s achievements were paired with a laconic style and a heartbeat that barely jumped after liftoff. He was a stickler for safety, which benefited and exasperated NASA officials.

“He was quite an asset to the space program,” Apollo 13 commander Jim Lovell said, according to an interview with the Orlando Sentinel when Young retired in 2004. “He was always questioning what we were doing and why we were doing it.”

Young joined NASA in 1962. His earliest voyage into space was on Gemini 3, the agency’s first two-man flight, commanded by Virgil “Gus” Grissom, in 1965.

Lunar Prelude

The next year, on Gemini 10, Young and Mike Collins completed a dual docking and other maneuvers as prelude to the Apollo program’s quest to put a man on the moon.

On Apollo 10, in May 1969, NASA performed what it called “a full dress rehearsal” for landing men on the moon two months later. Young remained in the command capsule as Thomas Stafford and Eugene Cernan descended in a lunar module to within 9 miles of the moon’s surface. Returning to Earth, they set a record still not equaled by a manned vehicle, going 32 times the speed of sound, or 24,816 miles per hour.

In April 1972, aboard Apollo 16, Young became the ninth member of the exclusive club of moon walkers. Bouncing along the lunar surface in a four-wheeled rover, he and Charlie Duke collected 200 pounds of rock specimens.

Once the U.S. had beaten the Soviet Union’s cosmonauts to the moon and funding dried up, Young pushed NASA to return to the moon or venture to Mars, to provide the human race with a backup home in the event of Earth’s destruction.

Dire Outlook

“Earth’s geologic history is pretty clear: It says, quite frankly, that single-planet species don’t last,” Young said, according to a 2004 Houston Chronicle story.

Young became chief of NASA’s Astronaut Office, supervising training of new recruits and helping to develop the shuttle, the first fixed-wing space vehicle designed for reuse.

In 1981, Young commanded the shuttle program’s inaugural mission, orbiting Earth 37 times in the Columbia. It was the first time NASA put men on a vehicle’s initial voyage, and the earliest manned spacecraft launched by solid rocket boosters.

He commanded the Columbia again in 1983, his final journey into the cosmos.

Young already had a history of acting as a watchdog for crew safety and firing off blunt memorandums when the Challenger exploded shortly after takeoff in January 1986, killing all seven aboard. A memo he had sent three weeks earlier, leaked to the media after the tragedy, criticized NASA for compromising protection to meet launch schedules.

Shuttle Warnings

In news interviews and testimony to the presidential commission that investigated the accident, he warned that space shuttles would continue to reveal defects.

“The technical truth always has to be told, and telling it regardless of the consequences was one of my personality traits that people who knew me well learned to put up with,” Young wrote in “Forever Young,” his 2012 autobiography.

Young was reassigned in 1987 as special assistant for engineering, operations and safety at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, a move he viewed as punishment for his outspokenness.

“I wrote my memos to hit people over the head: with facts, with what-ifs, with contingencies, with options to contingencies, and with the stupidity and danger of absurd and ludicrous bureaucratic decisions,” Young wrote about the 2003 loss of the shuttle Columbia and seven more lives. “In retrospect, it’s just so damn hard to believe that we hadn’t pinpointed the problem.”

Test Pilot

John Watts Young was born Sept. 24, 1930, in San Francisco to William Young and Wanda Howland Young. The family moved to Cartersville, Georgia, and then Orlando, Florida, as his father sought work during the Depression.

Young earned a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta in 1952. He was an aviator in the Korean War and remained in the Navy as a test pilot until joining the astronaut corps.

Even after he was moved to a desk job, Young kept his credentials current and remained a qualified astronaut until retiring at age 74.

He acknowledged being haunted by the deaths of the two shuttle crews and of close friend Grissom, killed with two other astronauts in the 1967 fire during a test countdown for what was to have been Apollo 1.

“Even today, approaching a half century later, I swallow hard when I think back to the Apollo 1 fire and the deaths of our buddies,” Young wrote in his memoir.

Young was married to the former Susy Feldman. With his first wife, Barbara White Young, he had two children, John Jr. and Sandra.</s>John Young, who preferred to stay out of the spotlight, was one of NASA’s most experienced astronauts. On Friday, Young died at the age of 87 after complications from pneumonia. Young was the first astronaut to fly in space six times, which included landing and walking on the moon.

According to NPR, John Young was one of the most accomplished astronauts in NASA’s history. Young accomplished many firsts while at NASA, as he was not only the first astronaut to fly in space six times, he was also on the first Gemini mission and he also commanded the first shuttle flight for NASA. Another accomplishment for Young, which was not a first for NASA, was that he was one of 12 people to walk on the moon.

If you did not know John Young, he was definitely a big name in the science and NASA world. Author Andrew Chaikin, who writes extensively on NASA, said that “if anybody deserves the title of legend, it would be John Young.”

John Young started his career as a test pilot in the Navy. With NASA, he was co-pilot on the first Gemini mission, which took place in 1965. He went on to command a Gemini flight one year later. He also orbited the moon on Apollo 10.

This all led up to the big moment in Young’s life, as he got the opportunity to walk on the moon in 1972. Young was the commander on Apollo 16, which landed on the moon. This was a special moment for Young, as NPR stated that Young seemed to be speechless at the time.

John Young went on to command the very first space shuttle mission for NASA in 1981. This was the first time NASA sent a vehicle into space that had people on board without a prior unmanned launch.

Later in his career, Young served as the chief of the astronaut office. Young would choose the astronauts who would fly on the shuttle. He also advised on engineering, operations, and safety matters. Chaikin talked about how Young would shock his coworkers in meetings.

“He would go into meetings with the specialists for a particular system and he would say in this kind of country-boy way, ‘Well, you know, I don’t understand much about the such and such but what gets me is…’ and then he would proceed to ask just a completely penetrating technical question that would just, you know, flatten these people.”

In his autobiography, Forever Young: A Life of Adventure in Air and Space, Young talked about how he felt responsible for the loss of the shuttles Columbia and Challenger since his crews were on board. He struggled with the idea that the agency could have missed the warning signs.

After 42 years with the agency, Young retired from NASA in 2004. He was the longest-serving astronaut in NASA history.</s>PHILADELPHIA (CNN) — Former astronaut John Young, a NASA trailblazer whose six journeys into space included a walk on the moon and commanding the first space shuttle flight, died Friday after complications from pneumonia, NASA said Saturday. He was 87.

“NASA and the world have lost a pioneer. Astronaut John Young’s storied career spanned three generations of spaceflight; we will stand on his shoulders as we look toward the next human frontier,” NASA Administrator Robert Lightfoot said.

Young, a former Navy pilot, was part of the second group of astronauts the space agency hired, brought aboard in 1962 to add to the original Mercury Seven who’d been selected three years earlier.

He ended up as one of NASA’s most experienced flyers, becoming the first astronaut to fly into space six times, and the only one to enter space in each of the Gemini, Apollo and space shuttle programs.

“I was just lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time, and to get the opportunity to do it,” he told the Orlando Sentinel in 2004. “It’s not extraordinary at all — anybody could have done it, I’m sure. You’ve just got to hang in there.”

He was part of the first manned Gemini mission — with Gus Grissom on Gemini 3 in 1965. According to media reports, Young smuggled a corned beef sandwich in his spacesuit, a move that didn’t sit well with NASA staff in Houston who worried about the crumbs.

And he commanded the first space shuttle flight, with pilot Bob Crippen, over three days in April 1981.

“We were testing stuff out and making sure the payload bay doors worked right and checking to make sure the radiator deployed and stuff like that to make sure we’d operate OK on orbit,” Young told CNN in 2011. Then he added: “Everything worked, that was the amazing part … especially on re-entry when we didn’t get burned up.”

Young flew to the moon twice and landed on it once. He was part of the Apollo 10 crew that orbited the moon in May 1969 in preparation for the first landing later that year. In the second trip, Young walked on the moon as part of Apollo 16 in 1972.

“John Young was at the forefront of human space exploration with his poise, talent, and tenacity,” Lightfoot said. “He was in every way the ‘astronaut’s astronaut.’ We will miss him.”

Former shuttle commander Scott Kelly also said Young was “the astronauts’ astronaut” and a “true legend.”

Former President George H.W. Bush said Young was “more than a good friend; he was a fearless patriot whose courage and commitment to duty helped our nation push back the horizon of discovery at a critical time.”

“Barbara and I join our fellow Americans and many friends in the space community in mourning the loss of astronaut John Young,” Bush said in a statement. “To us, he represented the best in the American spirit — always looking forward, always reaching higher.

“John leaves a tremendous legacy of accomplishment, in addition to his wonderful family. May his memory serve to inspire future generations of explorers to dare greatly, act boldly, and serve selflessly.”

Young was born in San Francisco and grew up in Orlando. He was graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1952 with a degree in aeronautical engineering.

He joined the Navy, serving on a destroyer before becoming a pilot in 1959. Three years later he was selected as a NASA astronaut. He spent 835 hours in space, NASA said. He served as chief astronaut from January 1974 until May 1987. He retired at the end of 2004.</s>Astronaut John Young has died at 87 years old, according to NASA. He flew the first space shuttle mission.

Young was selected to be an astronaut in 1962. He was the first person to fly in space six times from earth, and seven times counting his lunar liftoff in the Gemini, Apollo & Space Shuttle programs.

In his career, NASA tweeted he "flew twice to the Moon, walked on its surface and flew the first Space Shuttle mission."

In total, he logged more than 25,00 hours flying time.

Young served in many capacities at NASA including: Chief of the Space Shuttle Branch, Chief of the Astronaut Office, Technical Associate Director and more.

He retired from NASA in December 2004. For more information about his career, click here.

Former President George H.W. Bush released the following statement following his death.

"Barbara and I join our fellow Americans and many friends in the space community in mourning the loss of astronaut John Young. John was more than a good friend; he was a fearless patriot whose courage and commitment to duty helped our Nation push back the horizon of discovery at a critical time. To us, he represented the best in the American spirit — always looking forward, always reaching higher. John leaves a tremendous legacy of accomplishment, in addition to his wonderful family. May his memory serve to inspire future generations of explorers to dare greatly, act boldly, and serve selflessly."</s>Astronaut John Young -- the first man to make six trips to space and the ninth to walk the moon -- died Friday night from complications from pneumonia. He was 87.

Young was one of the nation's longest-serving astronauts, spending 47 years leading missions in the Gemini, Apollo and space shuttle programs.

"Today, NASA and the world have lost a pioneer," NASA Administrator Robert Lightfoot said. "Astronaut John Young's storied career spanned three generations of spaceflight; we will stand on his shoulders as we look toward the next human frontier."

Young's bravery and commitment "sparked our nation's first great achievements in space. But, not content with that, his hands-on contributions continued long after the last of his six spaceflights -- a world record at the time of his retirement from the cockpit," Lightfoot said in a prepared statement.

He served in the U.S. Navy for 25 years, retiring as a captain in 1976. The pilot joined NASA in 1962 in the second astronaut class, known as the "New Nine." Young was inspired to join NASA by President John F. Kennedy's 1961 call to land a man on the moon.

"I thought returning safely to Earth sounded like a good idea," said Young, according to a NASA statement.

Lightfoot noted that Young commanded the Gemini 10, the first mission to rendezvous with two separate spacecraft; orbited the moon in Apollo 10; landed on the moon as commander of the Apollo 16 mission; and, on his final mission, landed the STS-9 with a fire in the back end.

In early 1973, Young became chief of the Space Shuttle Branch of the Astronaut Office at Johnson Space Center. The following year, he was named chief of the Astronaut Office, a post he held until May 1987.

During his decades, he received a Congressional Space Medal of Honor, three NASA Distinguished Service Medals, the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal, two Navy Distinguished Service Medal and dozens of other awards, including four honorary doctorate degrees.

He was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1988.

Young, who lived in El Lago near Clear Lake, retired in 2004 after logging 835 hours in space.

"I've been very lucky, I think," Young said at his retirement from NASA in 2004. As to which moment was most memorable, he says simply, "I liked them all."

Around his retirement, Young recounted his first trip to the moon on Apollo 10 with the Houston Chronicle. "The impressive thing about the back side of the moon is how many darn craters it has," he said. "If the back side of the moon was facing us, I think human beings would be far more adaptive, far more educated, about (asteroid or comet) impacts on planet Earth."

Former President George H. W. Bush mourned the loss of the astronaut in a statement Saturday, saying that Young was a good friend and also "a fearless patriot whose courage and commitment to duty helped our Nation push back the horizon of discovery at a critical time."

Bush went on to say that Young, "represented the best in the American spirit — always looking forward, always reaching higher" and "leaves a tremendous legacy of accomplishment, in addition to his wonderful family."

Former NASA astronaut Terry Virts shared his sadness about Young's death, tweeting on Saturday: "You were one of my heroes as an astronaut and explorer and your passion for space will be missed."

Retired NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, who spent 340 days on a mission to the International Space Station, called Young "a true legend" and "the astronauts' astronaut," in a statement posted to Facebook Saturday.

"Fair winds and following seas, Captain," he wrote.</s>John Young, one of only 12 people to have walked on the Moon, has died aged 87, NASA has announced.

The US agency said on Saturday that the former astronaut's death was due to complications following pneumonia.

Young is the only astronaut who took part in the Gemini, Apollo and space shuttle programmes.

"Today, NASA and the world have lost a pioneer," Robert Lightfoot, NASA administrator, said in a statement.

"Astronaut John Young's storied career spanned three generations of spaceflight; we will stand on his shoulders as we look toward the next human frontier."

Born in San Francisco in 1930, Young joined the US Navy in 1952.

Ten years later, he was selected to join NASA and in 1965 he made he made his first trip to space with Gus Grissom on Gemini 3.

In 1969, Young was the commander of the Apollo 10 flight to the Moon, a preparation flight for the eventual Apollo 11 Moon landing several months later.

In 1972, Young landed on the Moon himself during the Apollo 16 mission. He spent three lunar nights on the surface and drove more than 25km in a lunar rover.

"The Moon is a very nice place," he had said. "When we landed, we were 20 minutes behind. Because time on the Moon was so precious, what I remember most is trying to catch up."

In 1981, meanwhile, he commanded the first space shuttle flight.

Twelve people walked on the Moon between 1969 and 1972. Five of them are still alive, including Buzz Aldrin, who was part of the first landing.</s>Legendary astronaut John Young, who walked on the moon and later commanded the first space shuttle flight, has died aged 87.

Legendary astronaut John Young, who walked on the moon and later commanded the first space shuttle flight, has died aged 87.

'Space pioneer' astronaut John Young who walked on the moon dies

It said he "was one of that group of early space pioneers whose bravery and commitment sparked our nation's first great achievements in space". Nasa said Mr Young was the only agency astronaut to go into space as part of the Gemini, Apollo and space shuttle programmes.

He was also the first to fly into space six times and the ninth man to walk on the moon. He died at home in Houston.

Young was in Nasa's second astronaut class, chosen in 1962, along with the likes of Neil Armstrong, Pete Conrad and James Lovell. "Today, Nasa and the world have lost a pioneer. Astronaut John Young's storied career spanned three generations of spaceflight," administrator Robert Lightfoot said.

Counting his takeoff from the moon in 1972 as commander of Apollo 16, Mr Young's blastoff tally stood at seven, for decades a world record. He flew twice during the two-man Gemini missions of the mid-1960s, twice to the moon during Nasa's Apollo programme, and twice more aboard the new space shuttle Columbia in the early 1980s.

Mr Young spent his last 17 years at Nasa's Johnson Space Centre in Houston in management, focusing on safety issues. He retired at the end of 2004.

Former president George HW Bush said he and wife Barbara "join our fellow Americans and many friends in the space community in mourning the loss".

He went on: "John was more than a good friend; he was a fearless patriot whose courage and commitment to duty helped our nation push back the horizon of discovery at a critical time. "To us, he represented the best in the American spirit - always looking forward, always reaching higher."

He added: "John leaves a tremendous legacy of accomplishment, in addition to his wonderful family. "May his memory serve to inspire future generations of explorers to dare greatly, act boldly and serve selflessly."</s>NASA veteran John Young, the only US astronaut to go into space as part of the Gemini, Apollo and space shuttle programs, and the first to fly into space six times, has died aged 87.

Described by NASA as the agency’s “most experienced astronaut,” Young flew to the Moon twice, and walked on its surface, and was the commander of the first Space Shuttle mission. NASA announced Young’s death with a Twitter post Saturday that recounted his many achievements in space.

“Today, NASA and the world have lost a pioneer. Astronaut John Young's storied career spanned three generations of spaceflight; we will stand on his shoulders as we look toward the next human frontier,” read a statement from NASA Administrator Robert Lightfoot.

Young died Friday night following complications from pneumonia, according to the agency.

In 1972, the former US Navy test pilot became the ninth out of 12 people in the world to set foot on the moon. Young also famously smuggled a corned beef sandwich into orbit during his Gemini 3 mission in 1965.

He retired in 2004 after 42 years of service with the agency, at the time holding the world record for most space flights (six), and going down in history as one of the most accomplished astronauts in the US space program.</s>LEGENDARY astronaut John Young has died at the age of 87.

In an statement on Twitter, NASA paid tribute to Young, the first person to fly six times from earth to space.

“We’re saddened by the loss of astronaut John Young, who was 87,” NASA wrote on Twitter.

“Young flew twice to the Moon, walked on its surface & flew the first Space Shuttle mission.”

NASA said Young actually made seven trips to space if you count his lunar lift-off.

He was also the ninth of 12 people to walk on the moon. In total, he spent 835 hours in space flights.

Young held a number of titles during his 42-year career with NASA, including Chief of the Astronaut Office. He retired in 2004.

Former US president George H.W. Bush offered his condolences in a statement.

“Barbara and I join our fellow Americans and many friends in the space community in mourning the loss of astronaut John Young,” the statement reads. “John was more than a good friend; he was a fearless patriot whose courage and commitment to duty helped our nation push back the horizon of discovery at a critical time.”</s>WASHINGTON — Legendary astronaut John Young, who walked on the moon and later commanded the first space shuttle flight, has died, according to a statement from NASA. Young was 87.

The space agency said Young died Friday night at his home in Houston following complications from pneumonia.

Young was the only agency astronaut to go into space as part of the Gemini, Apollo and space shuttle programs, and the first to fly into space six times. He was the ninth man to walk on the moon.

Related: The Making of an Astronaut

Young was in NASA's second astronaut class, chosen in 1962, along with the likes of Neil Armstrong, Pete Conrad and James Lovell.

"Today, NASA and the world have lost a pioneer. Astronaut John Young's storied career spanned three generations of spaceflight," NASA administrator Robert Lightfoot said in an emailed statement Saturday.

"John was one of that group of early space pioneers whose bravery and commitment sparked our nation's first great achievements in space," he added.

Counting his takeoff from the moon in 1972 as commander of Apollo 16, Young's blastoff tally stood at seven, for decades a world record.

He flew twice during the two-man Gemini missions of the mid-1960s, twice to the moon during NASA's Apollo program, and twice more aboard the new space shuttle Columbia in the early 1980s.

Young spent his last 17 years at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston in management, focusing on safety issues. He retired at the end of 2004.

Related: Space Travel Up Close and Behind the Scenes

Former President George H. W. Bush was among those offering condolences to Young's family.

Bush said in a statement that he and wife Barbara "join our fellow Americans and many friends in the space community in mourning the loss."

"John was more than a good friend; he was a fearless patriot whose courage and commitment to duty helped our Nation push back the horizon of discovery at a critical time," Bush said. "To us, he represented the best in the American spirit — always looking forward, always reaching higher."
Six-time U.S. NASA astronaut John Young dies at the age of 87. He was the 9th man who walked on the Moon.