Author Topic: Have you meet John Young?  (Read 14104 times)

Offline carmelo

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Have you meet John Young?
« on: 02/13/2012 03:20 am »
 Meanwhile we expect the John Young's autobiography "Forever Young",
i have a question:
Has anyone of you meet personally John W. Young?
Im very interested about impressions that you had on him.

Offline MATTBLAK

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Re: Have you meet John Young?
« Reply #1 on: 02/13/2012 07:34 am »
I met Captain Young in May 1996 in the L.B. Johnson room at JSC where my colleagues and I interviewed him for about 15 minutes. He turned up alone, without a 'minder'. The only words I personally spoke to him was by asking; "Excuse me, Sir, but may I record this interview?" He merely nodded. He was a bit wary and guarded towards us Kiwis!! He must have had either a cold or bad allergy as he had to reach for a handkerchief a couple times, muttering "Excuse me", as he did so.

My colleague Steve asked him about 8 or 9 questions to which he gave shortish, concise and probably stock answers. I still have the recording somewhere, but Captain Young spoke so softly its hard to understand the playback at times. When asked a question about which of the four spacecraft he had flown during his career did he prefer most, this seemed to make him break from his stock answers and become thoughtful. He described what each was like but didn't really give a straight answer. But reading between the lines, I'd say he liked Shuttle best of all.

And one of his comments went something like; "We'll do some important things in this program once we get some real leadership in this country".

At the conclusion of the interview, which seemed to puzzle him with its brevity, my friend Steve almost pounced on the subject of Captain Young signing some Apollo and Gemini era portraits and photos. I tried to kick Steve under the table, but the damage was done: Captain Young flatly refused. To my annoyance, Steve asked again more insistently, which turned Captain Young's mood from mellow to grumpy.

"No Sir, I can't do that," Young said. "It might get me in trouble. But I could send you some others, though" and he started to get up. Steve looked very disappointed and before he could say anything else, I lay a restraining hand on Steve's arm and said firmly; "Fair enough, Sir, fair enough."

Captain Young scribbled a note on a piece of paper and quickly left the room. "Thank you, Sir", we called out after him. We all agreed later that it was an honor to meet John Young, but it was also a bit surreal, too. And he didn't look all that happy to be there, perhaps wishing for a PAO minder to smooth things over. For the rest of our day at JSC, I kept expecting George Abbey and a couple of heavies to come along any moment and throw us off the premises for upsetting John Young!!

When I returned home to New Zealand a week later I wrote a very sincere thank you letter to him, wishing him and all his Astronaut colleagues the best.

A couple weeks later, a handful of signed, official portraits of him taken in a blue Shuttle 'jumpsuit' arrived in my mailbox, intended for me and my colleagues. The one signed for me is a very treasured item. It will become one of my family heirlooms, always reminding me of the time I met one of my childhood heroes, if only briefly.

P.S: if you read Andrew Smith's fine book "Moondust" where he details meeting most of the Apollo Astronauts, I reckon his portrayal of John Young is almost 100% percent on target, showing us what the good Captain is really like!
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Online JAFO

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Re: Have you meet John Young?
« Reply #2 on: 02/13/2012 08:12 am »
A very good friend met him one on a Continental Express commutter between Bush and Ellington back in the late 1990s. My friend had no idea who he was, just that he started talking about visiting JSC with the guy across the aisle during a break while he was training in the ATR-42. He finally said "Hi, my name is ...." and CDR Young introduced himself. My buddy said he turned all kinds of red but Mr. Young was extremely gracious, took his address and later sent my friend a bunch of stuff. 
« Last Edit: 02/13/2012 08:13 am by JAFO »
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Offline synchrotron

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Re: Have you meet John Young?
« Reply #3 on: 02/13/2012 03:36 pm »
Met him at JSC in '91. He stopped into the SMS fixed-base to poke around a system we were commissioning in the crew training simulator. Very engaged and friendly. Said something like, "It's about damn time we did something like that." (Total paraphrase there BTW, and the expletive might not even be as I remember it ... but I'm pretty sure it was.)
He spent an inordinate amount of time looking into the technical details. His enthusiasm was infectious.

Offline Silmfeanor

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Re: Have you meet John Young?
« Reply #4 on: 02/13/2012 07:53 pm »
Because of the 50 year anniversary, the new york times had this excellent article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/14/science/space/50-years-later-celebrating-john-glenns-great-feat.html?hp

Offline Danny Dot

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Re: Have you meet John Young?
« Reply #5 on: 02/14/2012 03:18 pm »
I had the honor of working with him several times.  He always gave complements to the people around him.
Danny Deger

Offline carmelo

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Re: Have you meet John Young?
« Reply #6 on: 02/14/2012 03:55 pm »
John Young is a bit timid,is not so?
At least so seems reading Mike Mullane's Riding Rockets:
 (Pag.70 "As with is speech,he couldn't make eye contact.He lookeed at his shoes.He looked at paper on his desk.He looked out the window.He looked everywhere,but not into our eyes.I was embarassed for Young and his dancing eyes".

Offline synchrotron

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Re: Have you meet John Young?
« Reply #7 on: 02/14/2012 04:06 pm »
Nothing timid about these rooster tails:


He wasn't timid on-on-one,  but some folks are better in small groups.

Online AS-503

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Re: Have you meet John Young?
« Reply #8 on: 02/14/2012 04:26 pm »
While I have not met him personally, I would like to bring up his incredible (and very dry) sense of humor. I.E. The Apollo 13 "mix tape". The Hail Columbia film also shows a few good quips of this dry humor.

And let's not forget that Gemini 3 corned beef sandwich to which Gus Grissom queries John, "What's that?"

Even long after retirement I will think of John Young as head of the astronaut office.





Offline Apollo-phill

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Re: Have you meet John Young?
« Reply #9 on: 02/14/2012 04:32 pm »
Yes - I spent most of the day with him and his wife when he came to Scotland many many years ago.

I am a retired aerospace engineer and John Young is very engineering-minded. He knows his "stuff' - especially on astronautics. I think if you spend any time with him and can talk "engineering" with him he will appreciate that. But don't over do it ! There are 'other activities' in life ! He did a couple of presentations to schools and,what I liked about his presentations, he did NOT dumb them down. He told it "as it is" - which is the way I have always done my  spaceflight presentations since 1964.

Whilst doing his talks,I sat with his wife and we had several chats about gardening and herbal remedies for ailments - which she enjoys doing. She confided she did not want John to go back into space again and ,later, John said it was his wife that had persuaded him not to return on any later shuttle missions - though you could kinda gather he would like to have made 'one more' flight !

His views on lunar exploration more or less matched my own and so his ideas and thoughts on advanced lunar exploration were encouraging to me - especially as they come from one guy who has been there !

Like others have said, he would not sign autographs. BUT, he did sign my Apollo-16 US flag that his colleague,Charlie Duke had taken to the Moon's surface in his PPK and which Charlie had signed some years earlier for me. SO, John said he would have to sign as well ! Very very honoured. But, you could see he was very reluctant to do so.

What folk must remember is that these Apollo moon walkers are now in their late 70s or early 80s and have 'lived' with these requests for appearances,talks,autographs for many many years. But they are of "grandad age" and - if like me - will talk about aerospace all day BUT want to do so at their own pace and not be 'hounded' or 'pushed' into  'events' . They will tire more easily these days - so brief bursts of activity is 'fine' .If the astronaut says 'NO' respect it. Don't go  'hounding them'. You have been lucky - you have been in their presence.Many millions have not. They have their agenda as well as you ! Ask them if you can take a photo of them and most will oblige but make it quick. And don't fire flash 'right in their face' . You can get a very good image without it. 



Apollo Phill

Offline Blackstar

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Re: Have you meet John Young?
« Reply #10 on: 02/14/2012 04:44 pm »
Nothing timid about these rooster tails:

That footage is too good. Must be fake.

Offline carmelo

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Re: Have you meet John Young?
« Reply #11 on: 02/14/2012 05:21 pm »
She confided she did not want John to go back into space again and ,later, John said it was his wife that had persuaded him not to return on any later shuttle missions - though you could kinda gather he would like to have made 'one more' flight !



I think that he could be CMDR on STS-31,also if had 59 years (and seven months) at the time of that mission.
Well,is a great love gift for his wife,but is a pity.

Offline Blackstar

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Re: Have you meet John Young?
« Reply #12 on: 02/14/2012 05:36 pm »
What folk must remember is that these Apollo moon walkers are now in their late 70s or early 80s and have 'lived' with these requests for appearances,talks,autographs for many many years.

I think that's a great point that is so often overlooked by the fans. Young stayed involved in NASA until relatively recently, but a lot of these guys left it 40 years ago. They've lived a lot since then, but have been fielding requests for the same stories and information and autographs constantly ever since. At some point they've probably really gotten sick of it.

Offline synchrotron

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Re: Have you meet John Young?
« Reply #13 on: 02/14/2012 05:44 pm »

I think that's a great point that is so often overlooked by the fans. Young stayed involved in NASA until relatively recently, but a lot of these guys left it 40 years ago. They've lived a lot since then, but have been fielding requests for the same stories and information and autographs constantly ever since. At some point they've probably really gotten sick of it.

One fella expressed regret to me that the time spent signing an autograph was time lost from having one-to-one human contact. The autograph was a substitute for real engagement.

Offline saturnapollo

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Re: Have you meet John Young?
« Reply #14 on: 02/14/2012 05:55 pm »
Yes, I met him briefly in the 90's. He was attending a special Ted Fresson Trust event in Inverness in Scotland (Fresson initiated the first flights between Inverness and Orkney and was one of John Young's boyhood heroes so it was an organisation he supported), and I was able to get a seat on the commerative flight. He was asked to fly the plane for a bit so I can say that an astronaut has piloted a plane I was aboard.

I didn't ask for an autograph as I knew his policy on that but the chap I was with did, but Young rebuffed him and said he needed to write to NASA to get one that way.

Very unassuming person and made no fuss about being important all during the day long event.

Keith
« Last Edit: 02/14/2012 05:57 pm by saturnapollo »

Offline Stardust9906

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Re: Have you meet John Young?
« Reply #15 on: 02/14/2012 08:33 pm »
John Young is a bit timid,is not so?
At least so seems reading Mike Mullane's Riding Rockets:
 (Pag.70 "As with is speech,he couldn't make eye contact.He lookeed at his shoes.He looked at paper on his desk.He looked out the window.He looked everywhere,but not into our eyes.I was embarassed for Young and his dancing eyes".


I would say that timid is probably the wrong description for someone who flew to the moon twice and commanded the first flight of a new untried spacecraft.  ;)

Offline Skylon

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Re: Have you meet John Young?
« Reply #16 on: 02/14/2012 10:50 pm »
John Young is a bit timid,is not so?
At least so seems reading Mike Mullane's Riding Rockets:
 (Pag.70 "As with is speech,he couldn't make eye contact.He lookeed at his shoes.He looked at paper on his desk.He looked out the window.He looked everywhere,but not into our eyes.I was embarassed for Young and his dancing eyes".


I would say that timid is probably the wrong description for someone who flew to the moon twice and commanded the first flight of a new untried spacecraft.  ;)

Uneasy with command seemed to be where Mullane was going with that, and maybe not the best public speaker of the Astronaut Corps. Still, Mullane for all his criticisms of Young would not challenge his accomplishments as an astronaut, noting that while many doubted his ability to be Astronaut Office Chief no one "doubted his flying abilities, or guts." So, yeah. I'd say timid is the wrong word.

Especially if you ever hear the anecdotes from Charlie Duke and Bob Crippen about how their pulse rates compared to Young's on Apollo 16 and STS-1 respectively.

Offline DMeader

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Re: Have you meet John Young?
« Reply #17 on: 02/15/2012 12:16 am »
Instead of "timid", perhaps "shy" is more appropriate.

Offline MrTim

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Re: Have you meet John Young?
« Reply #18 on: 02/15/2012 09:15 am »
Instead of "timid", perhaps "shy" is more appropriate.
I would not say "shy" or "timid" but perhaps "gun shy". Remember that most of these guys started out treating the public very well, signing lots of stuff when asked, but that some have seen that they were taken advantage of by professional autograph seekers/sellers who pretended to be average members of the public but were really seeking free autographs that they planned to sell for profit.

Many people have tried to use these guys for money or publicity over the years, so it should be no surprise if they get wary.

Offline MATTBLAK

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Re: Have you meet John Young?
« Reply #19 on: 02/15/2012 09:59 am »
Yes, exactly.
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