Why John Young?
“He had the right stuff before we even had a name for it.” Daniel Goldin “I’m not through looking for life in our solar system.” – John Young, “For All Mankind” Shortly after I started this site in 1996, a visitor asked why I had chosen John Young over all the other astronauts. That’s a valid question; all of the astronauts are heroes. Why should I single out just one? “…no space explorer can equal, or is likely to surpass John Young’s remarkable – and strangely unsung – series of achievements.” – Michael Dean Photo taken October 14, 1999 I chose John Young for several reasons – one is his impressive career. It’s been a career of “firsts” and records. While other astronauts may have launched from the Earth as many times or spent more hours on orbit, there is no other astronaut who can quite match the experience Captain Young has acquired through the Gemini, Apollo and STS projects. “One of the worst dirty words is can’t.” John Young, Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, April, 197
