John W. Young was born on September 24, 1930 in San Francisco, California. He was the son of W. Howard Young and Winifred Wells Young. He had one sister, Janice.
Young grew up in California and attended the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned a degree in electrical engineering. After college, he joined the U.S. Navy and became a naval aviator. He served as a test pilot before being selected as an astronaut in the astronaut corps in 1962.
Young’s first space flight was on Gemini 3, the first manned mission of the Gemini program. He later flew on Gemini 10, Apollo 10, and Apollo 16. He was the first person to fly in space six times and the ninth person to walk on the moon.
In addition to his astronaut career, Young also served as the Chief of the Astronaut Office, the Deputy Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight at NASA, and the Space Shuttle Program Manager. He retired from NASA in 2004.
Young was married to Barbara White Young and had two children, John W. Young Jr. and Sandra L. Young. He passed away on January 5, 2018 at the age of 87.