In 1952 Captain Young received a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering with highest honors from Georgia Institute of Technology and upon graduation entered the United States Navy. After serving on a destroyer during the Korean War, he was sent to flight training and test pilot training and in 1962 had set world time-to-climb records in the Phantom prior to reporting to NASA. While still an active flight status astronaut, he retired from the Navy as a Captain in September 1976, after completing 25 years of active military service.

While he receives most recognition as one of the elite group of 12 moonwalkers as Commander of Apollo 16 in 1972, his space flights included two firsts, Gemini 3, the first manned Gemini flight in 1965, and importantly the first time NASA launched a vehicle manned without previous unmanned test flights, he was Spacecraft Commander for STS-1, the first space shuttle flight in 1981. Captain Young also was Commander of Gemini 10, the Command Module Pilot on Apollo 10 (the dress rehearsal for Apollo 11, the first lunar landing), and Spacecraft Commander of shuttle flight STS-9, his sixth and final flight, in 1983. In preparation for prime and backup crew positions on eleven space flights, he put in more than 15,000 hours into simulator and simulation training and in his career logged more than 25,000 hours of flying time in aircraft from props to spacecrafts.

In addition to his distinguished accomplishments as a career flight status astronaut, Captain Young also spent 30 years of his NASA career in key management positions beginning in 1973 as Chief of the Space Shuttle Branch of the Astronaut Office, Chief of the Astronaut Office for thirteen years, Special Assistant to the Director of Johnson Spacecraft Center (JSC) for Engineering, Operations, and Safety, and was JSC Associate Director (Technical) at the time of his retirement in December 2004.

Captain Young has been described by his colleagues as “an astronaut’s astronaut”, a “national treasure”, and the “icon of manned space flight”. His dedication and work ethic is legendary and continues to be an inspiration and example for each new class of astronauts selected.

In retirement, Captain Young remains an outspoken advocate and visionary for the continuation of manned space exploration not only as a valued consultant to NASA on the next generation of space craft to return to the moon and on to Mars, but by also sharing through speaking engagements within the educational and private sector, his space flight experiences which reflect his highly successful professional and personal leadership, teamwork, and management skills.