The most times anyone has ridden a space shuttle to orbit has been six times, a record held by only two people. John Young launched into space six times, but aboard three different launch vehicles: twice on Gemini, twice on Apollo, and twice on the space shuttle, four times in which he was the mission commander.
He went to the moon twice: once to orbit it, the second time to walk on it. On his second flight, his crewmate Charlie Duke said his heart rate was 144 bpm at launch. John Young's was just 70 (!!!). John first heard that the space shuttle was approved by Congress while walking on the surface of the moon. He later went on to command the first space shuttle, and then commanded it again on STS-9.
There are people who have been in space longer than he has, but nobody has launched more times on more types of hardware. And that's before you remember that he's one of 12 people to walk on the moon, and only one of three people to go to the moon twice. There is no astronaut I idolize more than John Young.
Godspeed, Captain.
