John Watts Young

Young, John Watts (1930– ), U.S. astronaut. Young was a U.S. Navy test pilot (1952–62), setting 2 world altitude records, before becoming an astronaut in 1962. He made more space flights than any other astronaut. His missions included the first Gemini mission with Virgil I. Grissom on Mar. 23, 1965, and the command of the Apr. 1972 Apollo 16 flight and lunar landing. Chief of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) astronaut office at Johnson Space Center, Houston, Tex., Young was the commander of the Columbia in Apr. 1981, the first space-shuttle flight.

See also: Astronaut.