Wikipedia:Today's featured article/requests/John Young (astronaut)

The official NASA portrait of astronaut John Young in 2002.

John Watts Young (September 24, 1930 – January 5, 2018) was an American astronaut, naval officer and aviator, test pilot, and aeronautical engineer. He became the ninth person to walk on the Moon as commander of the Apollo 16 mission in 1972. He flew on four different classes of spacecraft: Gemini, the Apollo command and service module, the Apollo Lunar Module, and the Space Shuttle. Young served joined the US Navy aviator, and graduated from the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School. He set several world time-to-climb records, and was selected as a member of NASA Astronaut Group 2 in 1962. He flew on the Gemini 3 mission in 1965, and then commanded the 1966 Gemini 10 mission. In 1969, he flew as the command module pilot on Apollo 10. After that, he commanded Apollo 16, and spent three days on the lunar surface exploring the Descartes Highlands with Charles Duke. Young also commanded STS-1 in 1981, the Space Shuttle program's first launch, and STS-9 in 1983. He retired from NASA in 2004. (Full article...)

• Most recent similar article(s): John Glenn on July 18th
• Main editors: Balon Greyjoy
• Promoted: December 26, 2020
• Reasons for nomination: Would have been his 94th birthday