Longest-serving astronaut sets final countdown

Published on Thursday 9 December 2004 02:24

THE longest-serving astronaut in history, who flew twice to the Moon and commanded the first space shuttle mission, has announced his retirement after 42 years at NASA.

John Young, 74, was the first man to fly in space six times and the only astronaut to pilot four different spacecraft. He said he would leave the agency on 31 December.

Young joined NASA in 1962. His first mission was in 1965, as a pilot of the first manned flight of the Gemini programme.

He orbited the Moon in the Apollo Command Module in 1969 and landed on it in 1972, collecting more than 200 pounds of lunar samples.

In 1981, Young commanded Columbia during the first space shuttle mission. His final space mission came in 1983, when he again commanded Columbia.

Jefferson Howell, director of the Johnson Space Centre, said: "John Young has no equal in his service to our country and to humanity’s quest for space.

"He is the astronaut’s astronaut, a hero among heroes who fly in space."