Astronaut's Long Career Ends - AP

Astronaut's Long Career Ends
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/08/sc...tml?oref=login
Published: December 8, 2004


HOUSTON, Dec. 7 (AP) - The longest serving astronaut in history, John W.
Young, announced his retirement on Tuesday.

Mr. Young, who has spent 42 years at the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration, plans to leave the agency on Dec. 31.

Mr. Young, who commanded the first shuttle mission and flew twice to the
Moon, was the first person to fly in space six times and the only
astronaut to pilot four different spacecraft. He flew in the Gemini,
Apollo and space shuttle programs.

"John's tenacity and dedication are matched only by his humility," said
Sean O'Keefe, the administrator of NASA. "He's never sought fame and
often goes out of his way to avoid the limelight."

Mr. O'Keefe said Mr. Young's legacy would inspire space explorers for
years to come.

Mr. Young, 74, joined NASA in 1962. His first mission was in 1965 as a
pilot of the first manned flight of the Gemini program. He went on to
command the Gemini 10 in 1966, followed by his orbit of the Moon in the
Apollo command module in 1969.

Mr. Young went back to the Moon in 1972 in Apollo 16. He and his fellow
astronaut, Charles M. Duke, collected more than 200 pounds of lunar
samples.

"John has an incredible engineering mind, and he sets the gold standard
when it comes to asking the really tough questions," said William F.
Readdy, NASA's associate administrator for space operations. In 1981, Mr.
Young commanded the Columbia during the first space shuttle mission. In
his final space mission, in 1983, he again commanded the Columbia.

Mr. Young was chief of the agency's astronaut office for more than a
dozen years and was an assistant and associate director of the Johnson
Space Center for eight years.

"John Young has no equal in his service to our country and to humanity's
quest for space," said Jefferson D. Howell Jr., director of the Johnson
Space Center.

On Wed, 8 Dec 2004 01:27:39 -0600, "Revision" k@tdot-com wrote:

HOUSTON, Dec. 7 (AP) - The longest serving astronaut in history, John W.
Young, announced his retirement on Tuesday.

I believe that Vance Brand now becomes the longest serving astronaut
at NASA. He's at Dryden.

Mary

--
Mary Shafer Retired flight research engineer

Mary Shafer wrote in
:

On Wed, 8 Dec 2004 01:27:39 -0600, "Revision" k@tdot-com wrote:

HOUSTON, Dec. 7 (AP) - The longest serving astronaut in history, John W.
Young, announced his retirement on Tuesday.

I believe that Vance Brand now becomes the longest serving astronaut
at NASA. He's at Dryden.

You are correct. http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/astrobio_activemgmt.html
lists him as the last member of Group 5 (1966) still at NASA, followed by
Robert Parker (Group 6, 1967) and Gordon Fullerton (Group 7, 1969).

The longest serving non-management astronauts are Anna Fisher (Group 8,
1978) and Marsha Ivins (Group 10, 1984), though some of the other
management astros from those classes may return to active status.

Bill the Cat Wrote:
You are correct. http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/astrobio_activemgmt.html
lists him as the last member of Group 5 (1966) still at NASA, followed by
Robert Parker (Group 6, 1967) and Gordon Fullerton (Group 7, 1969).

The longest serving non-management astronauts are Anna Fisher (Group 8,
1978) and Marsha Ivins (Group 10, 1984), though some of the other
management astros from those classes may return to active status.

Keep in mind a few things:

1) Brand, Parker and Fullerton may still be at NASA but are their bios list
them as "former" astronauts, that is, unlike Young I guess they were no longer
eligiable for flights as Commanders or Mission Specialists, and couldn't just
jump in the simulator.

2) Fisher actually left NASA for awhile in the late 80's early 90's. Same as
Steve Hawley who despite being management I think is still a qualified MS. I
think as of now the longest serving qualified astronaut is Shannon Lucid (the
rest of the 1978 group having moved to management position without retaining
flight stauts, or having gone on an extended leave of absence at some point).

-A.L.

"MasterShrink" Keep in mind a few things:

1) Brand, Parker and Fullerton
their bios list them as "former" astronauts
2) Fisher actually left NASA for awhile in the late 80's early 90's.

Interesting. So John Young probably was the "longest serving astronaut."
The duration of his flying career in space was probably the longest, with
Alan Shepard right up there as well.

The longest serving non-management astronauts are Anna Fisher (Group 8,
1978) and Marsha Ivins (Group 10, 1984), though some of the other
management astros from those classes may return to active status.

....Isn't Ivins the MS who was notorious for yelling at CapComs and
Flight Controllers over the mike on one flight? IIRC, was falling
behind on one experiment, and basically told the Ground to "just shut
up and stand by for a minute!".

OM

--

"No ******* ever won a war by dying for | http://www.io.com/~o_m
his country. He won it by making the other | Sergeant-At-Arms
poor dumb ******* die for his country." | Human O-Ring Society

- General George S. Patton, Jr

(MasterShrink) wrote in
:

Bill the Cat Wrote:
You are correct.
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/astrobio_activemgmt.html lists him as
the last member of Group 5 (1966) still at NASA, followed by Robert
Parker (Group 6, 1967) and Gordon Fullerton (Group 7, 1969).

The longest serving non-management astronauts are Anna Fisher (Group
8, 1978) and Marsha Ivins (Group 10, 1984), though some of the other
management astros from those classes may return to active status.

Keep in mind a few things:

1) Brand, Parker and Fullerton may still be at NASA but are their bios
list them as "former" astronauts, that is, unlike Young I guess they
were no longer eligiable for flights as Commanders or Mission
Specialists, and couldn't just jump in the simulator.

Yes, I understand that. That's why I described them as "last member of
(...) still at NASA", rather than "last member of (...) still an active
astronaut."

It is unfortunate that NASA's "management astronaut" category does not
distinguish between active astronauts on rotational management assignments,
and former astronauts who are clearly never going to fly again.

(Of course, John Young's status of "active" was ceremonial; clearly he was
never going to fly again, either.)

Bill the Cat Wrote:

Yes, I understand that. That's why I described them as "last member of
(...) still at NASA", rather than "last member of (...) still an active
astronaut."


Sorry, was just trying to be clear, maybe hammered it a bit much.

It is unfortunate that NASA's "management astronaut" category does not
distinguish between active astronauts on rotational management assignments,
and former astronauts who are clearly never going to fly again.

(Of course, John Young's status of "active" was ceremonial; clearly he was
never going to fly again, either.)

Agreed, Young maybe clearly was never going to fly in space again, but he still
was cleared to use the same facilities the other astronauts could: flying
T-38's, use of the shuttle simulator etc.

Going through the bio site I am realizing just how many times they do not
specify if a management astronaut is a "former" astronaut or not. For say,
Vance Brand and Steve Nagel they state quite clearly "NASA Astronaut (former)",
for someone like Fred Gregory, the Deputy Administrator (who I dobut is going
to be sent up again), it is unspecified.

-A.L.