John Young earned a degree in Aeronautical Engineering, became a Naval Aviator, fighter pilot and test pilot before being selected as a member of the second astronaut class in 1962. In his 42-year career with NASA at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, Young was the first six-time space explorer in the United States and piloted four different classes of spacecraft: the Gemini, the Apollo Command/Service Module, the Apollo Lunar Module and the Space Shuttle. As Commander of Apollo 16 in 1972, he was the ninth person to walk on the Moon, and in 1981, he commanded the first flight of the Space Shuttle. Young retired from NASA in 2004; his autobiography Forever Young reflects on his distinguished career.
