THE ASTRONAUT

In some ways, Grissom and his younger pilot, John Watts Young Jr, were perfectly matched. ‘‘They were both good engineers who understood their machines,’’ wrote fellow astronaut Mike Collins, ‘‘and liked fooling with them. They were

uncomfortable with the invasion of privacy the space programme had brought into their lives and tried as hard as they could to deflect questions from themselves to their beloved machines. They were generally taciturn but both had strong opinions that could flash unexpectedly… Neither was interested in small talk and they would endure uncomfortable silences rather than fill the void with what they considered ancillary trivia.” Collins, who would fly as Young’s pilot on Gemini X a year later, admitted that the “aw-shucks” demeanour and country-boy drawl cleverly concealed a sharp, talented and analytical mind that would carry him to the Moon twice, to its surface and ultimately to command of the first Space Shuttle mission.

Born in San Francisco on 24 September 1930, Young and his family moved to Cartersville, Georgia, when he was three years old and eventually settled permanently in Orlando, Florida. At around this time, he related in an interview, Young began building model aircraft. It was a hobby that would remain with him throughout high school, together, it seemed, with rockets, which he chose for a speech to his classmates in the 11th grade. Young earned his degree in aeronautical engineering, with highest honours, from Georgia Institute of Technology in 1952, receiving coveted membership of the institute’s prestigious Anak Society. He joined the Navy in June of that year and, among his earliest assignments, served as fire control officer aboard the destroyer Laws. During this time, he completed a tour in Korea and a former shipmate would remember his coolness under duress.

“Though only an ensign at the time,’’ wrote Joseph LaMantia, quoted on the website www. johnwyoung. com, “he was the most respected officer on the ship. When we sustained counter-battery fire and enemy rounds were striking the ship, it was John Young’s leadership which kept us all cool and focused on returning that enemy fire… which won the day.’’ After Korea, Young entered flight school at Naval Basic Air Training Command in Pensacola, Florida, learning to fly props, jets and helicopters and later undertook a six-month course at the Navy’s Advanced Training School in Corpus Christi, Texas. With receipt of his wings came four years’ service as a pilot in Fighter Squadron 103, flying F-9 Cougars from the Coral Sea aircraft carrier and F-8 Crusaders from the Forrestal supercarrier. During these years, colleagues would describe him as “the epitome of swashbuckling aviators… he exuded confidence coupled with uncommon ability’’.

This ability, indeed, would ultimately guide him into the hallowed ranks of NASA’s spacefaring corps. But not yet. The selection process to pick the Mercury Seven began early in 1959, at which time Young was just starting Naval Test Pilot School at Patuxent River, Maryland; test-flying credentials were a prerequisite for astronaut training. After graduation, he worked as a project test pilot and programme manager for the F-4H weapons system at the Naval Air Test Center in Maryland, evaluating armaments, radar and bombing fire controls for both the Crusader and the F-4B Phantom fighters. During one air-to-air missile test, he and another pilot approached each other’s aircraft at closing speeds of more than three times the speed of sound. “I got a telegram from the chief of naval operations,” Young later quipped, “asking me not to do this anymore!’’ In early 1962, he would also set two time-to-climb world records.

By now a lieutenant-commander, Young’s experience with the ‘Phabulous’

Phantom had made him the obvious choice to set the records as part of Project High Jump. The first, on 21 February, saw him climb to 3,000 m above Naval Air Station Brunswick in Maine in 34.5 seconds; followed, six weeks later, by another attempt from Point Mugu in California, which achieved 25,000 m in 230.4 seconds. In September of that year, after leaving active naval duties as a maintenance officer in Phantom Fighter Squadron 143, he received a phone call from Deke Slayton which marked the start of an astronaut career that would span four decades. Training, though, would be arduous. “You had to learn a lot of stuff,” he said later. “You probably only needed to know one per cent of all the stuff you had to learn. . . but you didn’t know which one per cent it was!”

As pilot of Gemini 3, Young became the first of the 1962 astronauts to fly into space. He was originally assigned to accompany Wally Schirra on backup duties for the mission, but Al Shepard’s grounding turned such plans on their heads. However, Young and Grissom would work well together, providing a good basis for some famous – or infamous – banter whilst in orbit. In fact, when asked by a journalist a few days before launch if he had any qualms about flying with Gruff Gus, Young had deadpanned: “Are you kidding? I’d have gone with my mother-in-law!”