Another moonwalker gone:( RIP Apollo 16 Commander John Young

[massimoManca II]

Flew to the moon TWICE!!

also famous for sneaking a corned beef sandwich on board Gemini 3 (first manned Gemini mission) with Gus Grissom... also Commander of the first Shuttle flight in 1981 (Columbia) ...

A true American Hero

Godspeed, John Young

 

[massimoManca II]

 

[84Lion]

His command of the first space shuttle mission, STS-1, was commemorated in the song "Countdown" on Rush's Signals album. (I remembered that from the announcer chatter, "Young and Crippen really moving out now" or something to that effect.)
Godspeed to Mr. Young.

 

[harbest]

When you start talking about heroes, the discussion should begin and end with these men who sat on launchpads in rockets loaded with several hundred gallons of highly unstable liquid oxygen. Running up and down a football field and hitting a baseball pale in comparison to the courage these men had.

 

[JayWye]

When you start talking about heroes, the discussion should begin and end with these men who sat on launchpads in rockets loaded with several hundred gallons of highly unstable liquid oxygen. Running up and down a football field and hitting a baseball pale in comparison to the courage these men had.

Amen to that...

 

[83wuzme]

I can remember that first STS mission when, after achieving orbit, a camera feed of the cargo bay revealed what appeared to be some thermal tiles floating around. It must have made for a nerve - wracking reentry for all involved.

 

[massimoManca II]

I can remember that first STS mission when, after achieving orbit, a camera feed of the cargo bay revealed what appeared to be some thermal tiles floating around. It must have made for a nerve - wracking reentry for all involved.

Yep - there were a few missing on the engine nacelle... the real concern was that there were more missing from more heat-vulnerable areas on the orbiter... the mechanical arm was not yet installed so they had no means by which to check outside of some ground-based cameras