RIP John Young

[jmcquate]

Only astronaut to fly on Gemini, Apollo, and the STS............oh, and he walked on the moon too.

 

[Recovering LSO]

Was originally a fire control officer on surface ships during Korean War, then qualified as a helo pilot, flew F-8s and F-9s from carriers before attending test pilot school. If Wikipedia is correct, he had >15,000 hours.

A life well lived.

 

[Pags]

And a helluva engineer who drank his whiskey clear.

 

[MIDNJAC]

Some good anecdotes/background about him in this book about the early shuttle program: https://www.amazon.com/Bold-They-Rise-1972-1986-Spaceflight/dp/0803226489

This is a good watch, covering STS-1 with the crew:

 

[wink]

I was in the RAG when Young brought back the first Columbia launch. We took a break from class to watch the landing and I always rembered Young walking around the Shuttle giving it a good post flight. Good aeronautical habits don't die just because you are a shit hot astronaut with hundreds of engineers backing you up.

 

[MIDNJAC]

I was in the RAG when Young brought back the first Columbia launch. We took a break from class to watch the landing and I always rembered Young walking around the Shuttle giving it a good post flight. Good aeronautical habits don't die just because you are a shit hot astronaut with hundreds of engineers backing you up.

Probably wanted to see just how bad the tile situation they had recognized on orbit had become......

 

[SlickAg]

Into the Black by Rowland White is a very good read about the STS program and the drama involved during STS-1.

John Young's autobiography Forever Young is also a good read, co-authored by the same man who wrote the approved biography of Neil Armstrong.

 

[nittany03]

I was in the RAG when Young brought back the first Columbia launch. We took a break from class to watch the landing and I always rembered Young walking around the Shuttle giving it a good post flight. Good aeronautical habits don't die just because you are a shit hot astronaut with hundreds of engineers backing you up.

He also kiboshed the idea some NASA folks had about having the first shuttle flight be a Return To Launch Site Abort . . . basically the riskiest maneuver in the repertoire. Imagine flipping a malfunctioning Shuttle around at about 400,000 feet/Mach 5, and driving it backwards to slow down. At one point, even if all went well, the vehicle would be going Mach 1 . . . straight down. It's apparently an item of controversy to this day as to whether an RTLS would have actually worked, or just kept the crew busy until they were dead.

Young's quote was "let's not practice Russian roulette . . . because you might have a loaded gun there."

 

[Gonzo08]

Not to one up you nittany, but I believe I can top your John Young story with this little anecdote about a corned-beef sandwich.

P.S. The RTLS Abort is fascinating if you take the time to read about it. I imagine there are several youtubers who have attempted it in KSP.

 

[nittany03]

Not to one up you nittany, but I believe I can top your John Young story with this little anecdote about a corned-beef sandwich.

P.S. The RTLS Abort is fascinating if you take the time to read about it. I imagine there are several youtubers who have attempted it in KSP.

That one story perfectly illustrates the difference between engineers and aircrew.

Engineer: “We need to be careful; we don’t know where crumbs might end up.”
Aviator: “Eh, fuck it. Imma bring me a sammich.”

And talk about selling a whole EP based on “well, the math checks out and it works in the sim.” Reminds me of “well, you’re no-flap/no-slat and need to blow the gear down. So accelerate, pull up, bunt the nose, and go zero-G . . . I’ll prove to you it works in the sim!”

And on a separate subject, if you thought a stuck mic on Tower was bad, well . . .