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From: Lincolnshire IL USA
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posted 08-15-2006 08:25 AM               

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At the UACC meeting in San Antonio a veteran astronaut told me that John Young is busy writing a book. "He's wearing out a lot of pencils."

Many have suggested that Young write his memoirs because of the length of tenure at NASA starting in 1962. In past years he has stated that he had no plans for such a book. Apparently in retirement he has second thoughts.

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posted 08-15-2006 09:30 AM               

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When Young signed for Novaspace in May 2005, he told them he was writing a book. But there was no mention of when it would be released.

I wonder if Young is penning the book by himself or whether he will employ a ghost writer to help him.

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posted 08-15-2006 09:44 AM               

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I hope he uses a ghostwriter. It helps to have a scribe put thoughts into a coherent narrative.

That said, I don't have high hopes for such a memoir. There's a lot of things that I'd like to see Young discuss candidly, such as management of the astronaut office in the 1980s and his response to Challenger. See Mike Mullane's book for an impolite perspective on Young.

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posted 04-24-2007 05:32 PM               

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As one who has been around the good captain a few times I am often amazed about the emotions that John Young raises. He is either loved or hated even by some that have flown with him on spaceflights. As a test pilot I would think that his strong feelings would be welcomed by those who care and by those who believe in crew safety.

But.... tell us what you know or think?

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posted 04-25-2007 11:56 PM               

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John Young has a very good sense of being able to "see the forest through the trees" and make very profound observations with a dry wit. In fact it was his article with Robert Crippen that inspired my space interests years ago !

His style is usually not very emotional at the surface, but he gets you to thinking - then Pow! - you get hit with the emotion after realizing the implications of what he says. I would bet those that hate him are inclined to let emotions or sentimentality override intellect. That causes a blindness to see things as they are. (Don't shoot the messenger) When the Challenger memos circulated I was thinking "Is he the only one who gets it? I see an administrator in the making, but they'll probably punish him for it instead. He's heroic even at the desk in just plain saying what needed to be said!"

I can relate to him more than any other M-G-A era astronaut - so here's one to look forward to that can read with left over things to ponder.

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posted 04-26-2007 10:00 AM               

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On page 123 of SP-4027 Astronautics and Aeronautics, 1986-90:Chronology of Science, Technology, and Policy, John Young states that he was forced to resign as chief of the astronaut office because of his frequent criticism of NASA safety policies after Challenger.

Link to the pdf

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posted 06-18-2007 11:24 PM               

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Any news on the John Young autobiography? There was talk of it late last year and around the Novaspace signing but haven't heard any more.

Kim, any news?

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posted 06-19-2007 08:46 AM               

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quote:

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Originally posted by jrkeller:
On page 123 of SP-4027 Astronautics and Aeronautics, 1986-90:Chronology of Science, Technology, and Policy, John Young states that he was forced to resign as chief of the astronaut office because of his frequent criticism of NASA safety policies after Challenger.

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Yeah, he says that, but apparently the truth is much more complicated.

From what I have heard--all third-hand, of course--many people considered Young to be part of the problem _before_ the accident. He made it clear through actions and words that shuttle safety was not really a priority. Then the Challenger accident happened and suddenly he tried to assume the role of safety hero. It didn't work for him because too many people knew what he had done before the accident.

The only example that I can think of offhand was a comment by somebody who said that they saw Young walk out of meetings concerning shuttle safety. He's always been a bit of a grumpy old man (witness his recent disparaging comments about the Ares I and Orion). Supposedly he would show up for a meeting on shuttle safety, stay a little while, and then announce that the whole thing was a waste of time and get up and leave. His actions then indicated to the rest of the astronaut office that nobody needed to attend shuttle safety meetings (outside of their actual training, that is).

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posted 01-05-2008 01:29 PM            

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If you read the October post on this thread where it essentially says he has only just begun it, I doubt there is going to be anything much new to report only three months later.

This is the kind of question perhaps to ask a year or so from now, if at all - as I am sure, if there is any news, it will be posted here anyway.

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posted 06-24-2008 05:24 PM               

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I'm sure it's been asked but I haven't followed these pages as much since I retired, but if/when is John Young going to write a book on his historic career? I don't think any astronaut out there past or present has seen more of America's space program than John Young.

Just curious.

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posted 01-31-2009 10:05 AM               

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Do anybody know that astronaut John Young had wrote his memoirs yet? Do anyone know any of his books are out on the shelves?

I will be grateful if anyone replied back to me, cheers.

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From: Denver, CO
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posted 02-02-2009 01:02 PM               

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I really hope John Young completes his memoirs, if he is indeed still working on them. No one else can match the breadth of his spaceflight experience.

Personally, I'd also be very interested in his recollections of his time as Chief of Astronauts. I know he wasn't terribly popular with his peers in that capacity, and I'd love to get his "take" on the events of those years. Fingers crossed...

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posted 02-05-2009 02:24 PM               

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quote:

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Originally posted by gliderpilotuk:
Having just read Mullane's Riding Rockets (great book), it really would be interesting to read JY's take on events! George Abbey's memoirs would be an equally intriguing conuterpoint.

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Paul, it was "Riding Rockets" that really piqued my interest in the subject as well. I was aware of the tension between the astronaut corps and their management, especially in the wake of the Challenger tragedy, but not its extent or depth...Col. Mullane's book was a real eye-opener.

Through my readings on the subject, I've come to perceive John Young as a brilliant engineer and astronaut, but a poor manager of people. His perspective on NASA as an organization during the early Shuttle years would no doubt be fascinating. And yes, I'd also snap up an Abbey memoir in a heartbeat, but from what I know of his personality, I somehow doubt that there's one forthcoming.

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posted 02-07-2009 11:21 PM               

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Concerning Abbey, I don't think he's going to write a book. His psychological style seems to be "keep them guessing" based on his tenures at JSC. As such, I have a feeling he's going to stay quiet on things he experienced rather then write about them. Enigma is part of Abbey's reputation.

Young sounds to me like he suffered in a typical middle management position during his chief astronaut days. By that point, the chief astronaut position had been pruned a bit from the days of Deke Slayton's word being law and part of that had to do with guys like Abbey who did the crew assignments. As such, John did the job he figured he had to do (ramp up shuttle's flight schedule to 12 launches a year) and went on with it until he got a wakeup call (Challenger).

Astronaut responsibilities at the time (the early shuttle days) seemed to be more a deal of fly the vehicle, do the stuff on orbit and let the engineers sort out the data they were seeing and let management decide if it was safe to fly. That is essentially what lead to the breakdown in communication prior to STS-51L as mission control was out of the loop on the discussions taking place at the higher management level to launch on that cold January day or not. As such, Young was at fault, but at the same time as much a victim as anyone else in the wake of what came after. Unfortunately, he seemed to take out his frustrations on those under him while at the same time trying to be the safety advocate and it cost him his chief astronaut title.

Now if you read Tom Jones' autobiography "Sky Walking," it picks up pretty much right where "Riding Rockets" left off. He paints a different picture of John Young as John seemed to be a bit different when he was out of the role of chief astronaut. He still was heavily involved with shuttle related items, but I think by not having the responsibility as chief astronaut helped him to lighten up a bit more while still keeping his edge as a guy who questioned things.

Tom Jones mentions in the book a shuttle ascent sim where John was in the CDR position and Tom was in back as MS1 with one of his classmates as MS2, a guy who formerly worked at NASA the simulation and training department before he got the call to become an astronaut. The ascent had no programmed failures in it as it was just a run through to show the ASCANs what a normal ascent sim looked like. Well, the other MS reached up and shut off one of the SSMEs when John wasn't looking and as a result, the mission became a TAL abort. So after landing, John somewhat sternly asks why a failure was thrown in and the simsup over the comm mentioned he had nothing to do with it and they weren't sure why it happened. Tom is trying to make himself look very small in the seat as his buddy finally chimes in with a smile on his face that he was the one who shut an engine off on purpose. At that point, John apparently just cracked a big smile and started laughing as he appreciated the practical joke that was played on him. Its a funny story to read.

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From: Auburn, Alabama, United States
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posted 08-21-2009 12:28 PM               

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I am Tyler, a graduate student who just entered Auburn University’s Ph.D. history program. I met Dr. James Hansen at his office yesterday, and I’ve got some details to share on a potential John Young autobiography. I asked him to sign my copy of First Man, and then I told him of my interest in doing some dissertation work on Young’s career.

At the mention of this he chuckled, and told me about Young’s plans to write his own book. Apparently Young’s original plan was to write his memoir on his own, with no ghostwriter assisting him. But having written a modest amount, he solicited Dr. Hansen’s help recently in improving the writing and historical details of Young’s manuscript. Dr. Hansen told me that he’s under an 18 month contract to assist in this project. He’s a very busy man, being the director of the honors college here and having participated in the Apollo 11 fortieth anniversary celebrations this summer. But evidently 2011 would be a reasonable year to expect a John Young memoir to be published.

Anyway, I look forward to hopefully working with Dr. Hansen in the future and writing a space history Ph.D. I will have to decide whether my idea to write about Young is a good option or not.

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posted 08-23-2009 04:36 PM               

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Good question. While most publishers REQUIRE a book signing tour as part of the publishing deal. Young is not really a "people person" like Buzz or Bean. He would not hold up well under such travel demands and glad-handing.

There has been talk of posthumous publication to avoid this. Or, self-publication.