ORLANDO, Fla. – Most people in Central Florida recognize the name John Young because it appears on a major Orlando road and even an elementary school. But long before the parkway was named in his honor, Young had already cemented his place as one of the most influential astronauts in American history.
“John Young is an Orlando native. He is the only astronaut from Orlando, period,” said Charles Jeffrey, a board member with the American Space Museum.
Young’s career helped define NASA’s human spaceflight program. He remains the only astronaut to fly in the Gemini, Apollo and Space Shuttle programs – three of the most critical chapters in space exploration. He was also one of only three astronauts to travel to the moon twice and one of just twelve people in history to walk on its surface.
His reputation for precision and calm leadership led NASA to trust him with one of the riskiest missions in agency history. On April 12, 1981, Young commanded STS-1, the very first Space Shuttle flight. Unlike other spacecraft launches, the shuttle flew with a crew onboard without first completing an unmanned test mission.
“Never before, never since. There’s always an unmanned test flight of everything first,” Jeffrey said.
Young’s experience and engineering expertise made him the astronaut NASA trusted to lead the groundbreaking mission, which helped usher in the modern era of reusable spacecraft.
Now, decades later, pieces of that historic career are being shared with the public through an upcoming memorabilia auction. Among the rare items are mission patches Young personally wore during Apollo 10, the critical dress rehearsal mission that paved the way for the first moon landing.
“These are the patches that he wore on his space suit on Apollo 10. These flew to the moon, flew back,” Jeffrey said.
The artifacts carry Young’s own handwritten certification verifying their flight history and include his signature, further confirming their authenticity and historical value.
“He wrote, ‘I certify that these four patches were on my Apollo 10 pressure suit when I went to the moon,’ and it’s signed John Young,” Jeffrey explained. “He was the command module pilot. And this is the suit he wore the whole way there, the whole way back.”
What makes the memorabilia even more unique is its chain of ownership. The items were returned to Young after the mission and later sold directly by the astronaut himself, adding another layer of provenance that collectors and historians value.
Young’s accomplishments place him among a rare group in human history. Only 24 astronauts have traveled to the moon, and only 12 have walked on it. Young remains the only one of those elite explorers to call Orlando home.
His legacy spans from NASA’s earliest orbital rendezvous missions to moon exploration and the launch of the Space Shuttle era. It’s a career that continues to inspire new generations of space explorers and enthusiasts alike.
The auction is currently open for online bidding and ends on Feb. 14. For more information, click here.
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