Sweet 16

Apollo 16’s Saturn-V rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 39A on April 16, 1972, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The spacecraft entered lunar orbit three days later. On April 20, Young and Duke separated with their lunar module, Orion, to descend to the moon’s surface. Crewmate Thomas “Ken” Mattingly stayed in orbit aboard the command module, Casper.  

Once the lunar module landed, Young couldn’t help but take a moment to describe the scenery to Mission Control, “We just can't find any words. Everybody's peeking out the window here,” he said.  

The mission had three primary objectives: surveying and sampling materials and surface features near the Descartes region, installing and activating surface experiments, and conducting in-flight experiences and photographic tasks from lunar orbit. As soon as they settled on the moon’s surface, it was clear they had picked a good landing site. Young looked out the window and reported, “Well, we don't have to walk far to pick up rocks, Houston. We're among them!” 

Young and Duke spent the next 20 hours and 14 minutes exploring the region, gathering samples, and driving 16.6 miles using the Lunar Roving Vehicle during three separate EVAs. The cameras onboard Orion, as well as those used by Young and Duke, captured images and provided information that verified Apollo 15 data on lunar terrain that was previously unknown.  

On April 27, all three astronauts safely splashed into the Pacific Ocean and were picked up by the U.S.S. Ticonderoga. With the successful completion of what became the penultimate Apollo mission, Young became the first person to orbit the moon on two separate missions, the first being Apollo 10 in 1969. The success of the fifth human landing on the moon led way to the advancements in many areas of technology and laid the foundation for future human spaceflight capabilities.  

Forever Young 

Young grew up in Orlando, Florida, before making his way to Atlanta to begin his aerospace engineering studies. As a Tech student, Young was a member of Scabbard and Blade, Sigma Chi, Tau Beta Pi, Tau Omega, Student Council, Circle “K” Club, and R.O.T.C.  

He graduated from Georgia Tech in 1952 with the highest honors before joining the U.S. Navy, where he flew fighter planes and served at the Navy’s Air Test Center in Maryland. There, he worked alongside Apollo 13 commander James A. Lovell Jr. and tested and evaluated Crusader and Phantom fighter weapons systems. Just 10 years after receiving his degree, Young was selected for NASA’s second astronaut group, which included Lovell and Neil Armstrong. Over his 42-year NASA career, he logged more than 15,275 hours of flying time in props, jets, helicopters, and rocket jets; more than 9,200 hours in T-38s; and six space flights of 835 hours. He’s the only astronaut to fly in NASA's Gemini, Apollo, and Space Shuttle programs, and was often called “the most experienced astronaut of all time.” 

After 25 years of service in the Navy, Young retired as a captain in 1976 and retired from NASA in 2004. He continued to advocate for space technology and advancement that would take humans back to the moon and, one day, Mars. Young passed away on January 5, 2018, at the age of 87 from complications of pneumonia.  

Today, Young is the first – and only – Tech graduate to walk on the moon, but many aspiring astronauts at Georgia Tech hope to join him. In 2021, the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering (AE School) announced the John Young Endowed Chair position in honor and memory of the late astronaut. In August 2022, Mitchell Walker was named the inaugural John Young Chair for creating next-generation space technologies associated with electric propulsion systems. Walker is an internationally recognized scholar in the area of electric space propulsion and known as an incredible mentor to students.