ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cJohn Young is an Orlando native. He is the only astronaut from Orlando, period,\u201d said Charles Jeffrey, a board member with the American Space Museum.<\/p>\n
Young\u2019s career helped define NASA\u2019s human spaceflight program. He remains the only astronaut to fly in the Gemini, Apollo and Space Shuttle programs \u2013 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cNever before, never since. There\u2019s always an unmanned test flight of everything first,\u201d Jeffrey said.<\/p>\n
Young\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n