It is not even a year ago that astronaut Gene ‘Last Man on the Moon’ Cernan passed away. Last week, the longest serving astronaut in NASA’s history (42 years) passed away: John W. Young. With that, the number of astronauts that were on the Moon and are still alive today is down to 5 (out […] Visit Astronaut John W. Young – 9th Astronaut on the Moon, Flew to the Moon Twice and Was On The First Space Shuttle Flight to read the full article.
The next anniversary speedy will be dedicated to John Young just like the Apollo 17 45th Anniversary was dedicated to Gene Cernan. Calling it now. And I'll also be the first to put my name down for it too. But yeah, RIP John Young, an amazing astronaut from an amazing era of space exploration. You will be missed and thank you for your service.
RIP John Young! I was looking at some YouTube videos of his missions last week after the news broke out of his passing. A truly amazing guy / professional. The "astronaut's astronaut". He flew four different classes of space ships: Gemini, Apollo Command Module, Apollo Lunar Module and the Space Shuttle. He was also the longest serving NASA Chief Astronaut from (74-87). The fact that he continuously adapted and learned new craft//skills throughout his NASA career is a testament to an extraordinary individual. His enthusiasm gesticulating on the runway after STS-1 egress was truly touching. Not sure how Omega would include all his missions onto one dial! Perhaps some STS-1 reference on the front (John Young's most significant mission?) and some Gemini, Apollo and STS mission patches / references on the back? I know Charlie Brown and Snoopy were the unofficial mascots and call signs for the Apollo 10. Perhaps a Charlie Brown reference? If Omega do release a John Young tribute Speedy LE, whatever they do, I sincerely hope it is truly worthy of the great man and that they include the phrase "the astronaut's astronaut" on the dial or caseback.
Another year passed and only 4 Apollo Moonwalkers remaining... In the month of April, we always remember John Young & the first Space Shuttle flight STS-1 with orbiter Columbia in April 1981... ... and the link with the requalified Omega Speedmaster chronograph... As always, more at MoonwatchUniverse: https://moonwatchuniverse.tumblr.com/archive . .
Apollo 10 ... 50 years ago but the Lunar Module nicknamed " Snoopy " was just found by a team of British Astronomers ! Instead of being deliberately crashed onto the Lunar surface, " Snoopy " was sent into a heliocentric orbit as part of a burn-to-exhaustion test and NASA stopped tracking it shortly thereafter in 1969. Untill a team of student astronomers had to search for it in the summer of 2011... Nick Howes, a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society announced the team was 99% sure to have located " Snoopy "
Thanks for the post - RIP John Young - amazing career. I like the fact he is smiling in a lot of his pictures and is described at Nasa as legendary for his laconic speaking style, his razor-sharp dry wit, and his fierce commitment to flight safety saying he was widely regarded as an “astronaut’s astronaut” Live from Gemini 3...…corned beef...and chips.....