Biography - Aviation-Related Awards
Young Receives Nolen Lifetime Achievement Award
Johnson Space Center Space News Roundup - October 22, 1999
By Nicole Cloutier
Capt. John Young, astronaut and JSC’s associate director (technical), was
awarded the 1999 Lloyd P. Nolen Lifetime Achievement in Aviation Award
earlier this month. Announced at a press
conference at Ellington Field by the Wings
Over Houston Airshow Festival Executive
Committee, the award honors Young’s substantial
contributions to the aviation community
throughout his lifetime. "They’re giving this award to me for
lifetime achievements, but I’m still working
on about 120 or 130 other things," said
Young. "We still have a long way to go."
Young has flown in space six times in
three different spacecraft. And as he’s well
known throughout the NASA community
for his legendary role as one of the early
astronauts, his contributions to the field of
flight go far beyond that.
"I feel honored that our organization
could recognize someone of such outstanding
accomplishments," said Everett
Gibson, an airshow volunteer and JSC
senior space scientist and co-leader for the
Mars Research Team. "Aside from his
NASA career, he has been a leader with
his aviation work and
what he did as a test
pilot for the Navy."
After graduating
from Georgia Institute
of Technology,
Young joined the
Navy. He underwent
training at the U.S.
Navy Test Pilot
School in 1959 and
was assigned to the
Naval Air Test Center where he assessed
weapon systems on the Phantom and the
Crusader. He went on to set world time-to-climb
records in the Phantom in 1962.
That same year, Young joined NASA’s
astronaut program and began his incredible
record of space flights starting with Gemini
3. He’s the only person to have flown in
Gemini, Apollo and space shuttle vehicles.
"Even with these remarkable achievements,
he is a very nice person and a humble
person," added Gibson. "He always
recognizes the people who work to put
these programs together. He’s been
involved in the space program for so long,
yet he still maintains such enthusiasm and
inspiration. It’s unusual to find all of these
qualities in a person."
Upon accepting the award, Young
made a point to thank the people who’ve
contributed to his success.
"It’s a team effort to be in aviation as
long as I have," said Young, who thanked
his wife for her support throughout his
endeavors. He also thanked the Navy for
launching his aviation career. "Were it not
for them [U.S. Navy], I would never have
started, and that F-4 back there gave me the
chance to get into the astronaut corps."
Since joining NASA, Young has
fulfilled a variety of positions including
chief of Space Shuttle Branch of the
Astronaut Office; chief of the Astronaut
Office; and special assistant to the
director of JSC for Engineering,
Operations and Safety.
The award, first given in 1989, is named
for Lloyd P. Nolen, a man
immersed in aviation as a pilot,
aircraft owner, mechanic, and
businessman throughout his life.
Noting that thousands of World
War II aircraft were being
destroyed in the early 50’s without
any efforts for preservation, Nolen
recruited friends in the Rio Grande
Valley to acquire the aircraft. By
1957, they formed an organization
dedicated to locating, acquiring
and restoring as many allied and
enemy aircraft as possible. Today
the American Airpower Heritage
Foundation, located in Midland,
Texas, has more than 140 aircraft
in its inventory and is one of the
finest aviation museums in the
country. Nolen was the first recipient
of the award given in his name.
The 1999 award will be dis-played
in the trophy case in the
Teague Auditorium. "I’m going
to set the trophy up at JSC so the
people who really deserve a piece
of it can come and look at it," said
Young. "All the folks at NASA,
they are the people who support
this flying operation and have
made it probably the best that we
have on the continent."
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