Good story from John Young (Apollo 10 and 16)

[budfox]

I've been reading "Forever Young" by astronaut John Young who is the coolest man who ever lived. Anyway, having read tons of stuff about the subject I'd never heard this story before.

Young is doing a tour after Apollo 16 returns, along with TK Mattingly and Charlie Duke. They go to the theatre with George H W Bush to see "A Funny a Thing Happened on the way to the Forum" starring Phil Silvers of Sgt. Bilko fame.

Afterwards they go back stage to meet Silvers who says to George Bush "I've got some good news and some bad news Mr President" (GW isn't president at this time but he is a congressman)".

"OK" says Bush "What's the bad news?"

Silvers replies "Well sir, the Chinese have landed on the moon"

"And the good news?" Asks Bush

"All of them sir"

Not very science related, but likely to be appreciated here.

[Eric Mc]

Another must read for me.

Don't forget Young also flew two Gemini missions (3 and 10) and two Shuttle missions, including the very first one.

It's great that there is finally a book about him as he is actually a man of few words and very, very matter of fact about his career and accomplishments.

Astronaut Mike Mullane (Riding Rockets) says in his book that Young was a very difficult man to fathom and he wasn't always convinced that he was looking after the astronauts best interests (he was head of the Astronaut's Office in the 1980s).

I performed in the stage version of "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum". The play is really, really funny (script by Larry Gelbart of "MASH" fame) but the film is distinctly underwhelming - despite Phil Silvers' presence.

Edited to add that I have just ordered Young's book as well as "Deke"

Edited by Eric Mc on Saturday 11th April 10:20

[budfox]

I think if one can have a favourite astronaut then John Young is mine. I like Mike Collins too as nobody has a bad word to say about him in any of the books.

I'm building quite a nice library though there are quite a few books that are silly money that I want.



I've read pretty much all of those and if I had to pick a favourite it would probably be "Rocketman" Pete Conrad's book. He's another one that they all seemed to like, and clearly he was a pretty lively guy.

I do find the small snippets of information where the astronauts express opinions of each other to be fascinating. I think people imagine that they were all best mates but Borman and Aldrin certainly had little time for each other, and Al Shepherd doesn't come out too well on a few occasions.

Fascinating stuff and I'm pleased to have been born at the right time in all of human history to have witnessed the moon landings and yet still have a chance of seeing a man on mars. (I'm 51 and have vivid memories of Apollo 13 getting home and of writing a 'news report' about one of the later missions when I was a primary school).

[Eric Mc]

I recognise a number of those books in my collection too. I'm a little bit older than you (56 - almost 57) so my memories are probably even more vivid. It was a fascinating moment in history to live through and I am hopeful that the momentum for deep, MANED exploration is beginning to gather pace again.

[Einion Yrth]

Eric Mc said:

I I am hopeful that the momentum for deep, MANED exploration is beginning to gather pace again.

You want them to send lions?

[Eric Mc]

Einion Yrth said:

Eric Mc said:

I I am hopeful that the momentum for deep, MANED exploration is beginning to gather pace again.

You want them to send lions?

You're on a spelling crusade today, I notice.

Put this one down to a tired keyboard - it doesn't always register a double key stroke on a single key.

[Lost soul]

So lets have a role call of favourite Astronauts

Guss Grissom for me

[Eric Mc]

Too many to chose.

[Einion Yrth]

Eric Mc said:

spelling crusade

Not really, just gave me a strange mental image (Kzinti?) that I wanted to share, sorry.

[Eric Mc]

There genuinely is an issue with my (quite old) keyboard. When I tap in two of the same letter in quick succession, the second key stroke doesn't always register. I usually notice when it does this but not always.

[jingars]

Eric Mc said:

I have just ordered Young's book as well as "Deke"

I would be interested to read your views on Young's book; he walks on the moon abut a third of the way through!

Slayton's book is a belter; he knew he was dying with cancer when he wrote / ghost-wrote it, which perhaps gives it some directness and freedom that it might otherwise might not have had.

Sort of related (He was Slayton's commander on the ASTP), Tom Stafford's book was a surprisingly good read - perhaps surprising because of his career after his spaceflight activities ended.

Favourites? From the Mercury/Gemini/Apollo era I have a soft spot for the personalities of Gordo Cooper and Pete Conrad.

From Mullane's book it would seem that both he and his one-time Commander Hank Hartsfield would be good company - although Hartsfield died last year.

[Caruso]

Lost soul said:

So lets have a role call of favourite Astronauts

Guss Grissom for me

My favourite bit from The Right Stuff was when they were questioning the public use of his nickname Gus.
"What's your 1st name?"
"Virgil"
"What about your middle name?"
"Ivan"
"OK Gus it is!"

[anonymous-user]

I just stumbled across this track,

GO-PublicServiceBroadcasting

That samples the Capcom voice coms during Apollo11 mission,

and though it was actually quite good! ;-)

[Simpo Two]

Eric Mc said:

MANED exploration

Lions in space!

[BonzoG]

Max_Torque said:

GO-PublicServiceBroadcasting

Thanks for that, I listened to the full album after you linked that and it's a cracker.

[Eric Mc]

Simpo Two said:

Eric Mc said:

MANED exploration

Lions in space!

Old and tired keyboard. It doesn't like double letters.

"Forever Young" arrived in Saturday's post. Will start on it as soon as I''m finished "Deke".

[budfox]

Nearly finished the book now, it's been a good read. I've been trying to think if there's another person alive who I'd rather meet and I can't think of anyone.

A few of the surviving Apollo guys come close, but I cannot for the life of me imagine why someone who has walked on another world wouldn't be at the top of everyone's list.

[speedtwelve]

John Young always seemed to me the 'coolest' of the astronauts in an "Aw shucks, it was nothin'" kind of way. He comes across as introverted and self-deprecating, but has the most astonishing flying CV.

I was really looking forward to his book, but was disappointed on reading it. Dry and matter-of-fact to the point of being dull. No real sense of 'what it was like'. Very heavy handed with detail on spacecraft and navigation/rendezvous systems to the point of reading like an engineering textbook. I'm a professional pilot with an engineering degree and felt like I was back in the classroom rather than enjoying the story. I can only take so much description of state vectors and DSKY programming.

Mike Collins' excellent Carrying the Fire, Mullane's Riding Rockets and Gene Cernan's Last Man on the Moon were far more entertaining for me. Much more of a human element to those. Would be epic to spend an evening in a pub with them.

[Eric Mc]

But isn't that what you'd expect from a chap like Young - who displays very little emotion in anything he does?

[speedtwelve]

To be honest Eric, yes! I remember a very good World in Action documentary about Young in the 80s called The Ultimate Explorer. I think it's on YouTube somewhere.