The Cygnus NG-10 mission named in honor of John Young of Apollo 16

Northrop Grumman has named the NG-10 Cygnus space shuttle in honor of astronaut Gemini and Apollo John Young. Image Credit: David Collins / SpaceFlight Insider

He has been in orbit six times. Two of these flights saw him venturing onto the moon. John Young's name will return to space with Northrop Grumman's Nyg-10E Cygnus spacecraft, which is scheduled to land at the International Space Station on November 15th.

The NG-10E mission should be the last trip from one of the cargo ships to the space station. When he's flying, the S.S. John Young will carry approximately 7,720-8,270 pounds. (3,500 to 3,750 kg) of cargo, crew supplies and laboratory experiments in orbit.

Northrop Grumman announced on October 24 the selection of the name of the spacecraft Twitter to post.

When he's flying, the S.S. John Young will be launched at the top of Northrop Grumman's Antares 230 rocket from Pad 0A (LP-0A) at NASA's Wallops flight facility in Virginia.

One of the founding fathers of NASA's Astronaut Corps

John Young was one of 12 men to have traveled the moon's surface so far. His first mission after being selected as an astronaut in 1962, however, was in low Earth orbit. Gemini 3 first flight as part of NASA's Gemini program. Young was associated with Mercury astronaut Gus Grissom for the mission. In the intervening years, Gemini 3 Perhaps best known is that Young secretly conceals a corn sandwich at the Wolfie's Restaurant and Sandwich Shop (according to the Smithsonian) and gives it to his commander in flight – rather than the importance of the test flight itself.

Young's minor act of rebellion may not have played well with Congress, but that did not hinder his progress in the new American space program (as William Highes of A.V. noted). Young again flew to the top of a Titan II rocket in the summer of 1966, Gemini 10. The mission has shown that high-altitude radiation should not be a problem for future flights. However, the main goals of Gemini 10 were the procedures required for NASA's lunar voyage – rendezvous, mooring and extra-vehicular activity (EVA).

Less than three years later, Young gravitated around the Moon Apollo 10 Crew members Eugene Cernan and Thomas Stafford. The flight saw Cernan and Stafford take the Apollo 10 lunar module, Snoopy, less than 8.4 nautical miles (15.6 km) above the lunar surface. Young stayed on board the mission command module, Charlie Brown. The crew of Apollo 10 allowed Neil Amrstrong and Buzz Aldrin to set foot on the moon two months later, in July 1969.

Young's space exploration days were just beginning, with his most prestigious mission: Apollo 16taking place in 1972. During this mission of about 11 days, Charles Duke, pilot of the young and lunar modules, completed the fifth mission on the surface of the Moon. When Young left the Highlands of Descartes and returned to Earth, his days in orbit were still not over.

Young and Robert Crippen successfully complete the first STS-1 flight of one of the NASA shuttle orbiters on board Columbia in April 1981. After spending two days in orbit and demonstrating the viability of the new spacecraft, the pair landed safely at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Young would serve as commander of one last mission, STS-9 (again on Columbia) in 1983.

Young held various positions with the US Space Agency before retiring from NASA on December 31, 2004 at the age of 74. Young spent 42 years with the agency. He did attend meetings at NASA's Johnson Space Center for several years. retirement. In January of this year (2018), Young passed away at the age of 87.

The first flight Cygnus to the ISS took place in September 2013. Since the first flight of the duo, Orbital Sciences (now Northrop Grumman) has named each vehicle either because of a person essential to the operations of the company , in honor of an astronaut.

"John was one of the first pioneers of space whose courage and commitment were at the origin of our country's first major achievements in space. But, not content with that, his concrete contributions continued long after the last of his six spaceflights – a world record when he retired from the cockpit, "said Robert Lightfoot, former NASA acting director, in a statement. news release published on January 6, 2018.

Tagged: Antares 230 Cygnus John Young NASA NG 10 Leaders Stories Northrop Grumman Wallops Flight Facility

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Jason Rhian

Jason Rhian spent several years honing his skills doing internships with NASA, the National Space Society and other organizations. He has provided content to sites such as: Aviation Week & Space Technology, Space.com, The Mars Society and Universe Today.