--- title: Legendary Astronaut John Young Dead at 87 description: Legendary astronaut John Young, the ninth man to walk on the moon, has died, NASA confirmed. He was 87. canonical: https://time.com/5091225/john-young-astronaut-dead/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-01-06T19:05:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T18:46:25.550Z article:section: Science og:title: Legendary Astronaut John Young Dead at 87 og:description: He was the ninth man to walk on the moon og:url: https://time.com/5091225/john-young-astronaut-dead/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt368c3207d15212ba/6988f7510a4a22194a9d14e8/john-young.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4437 og:image:height: 2496 og:image:alt: John Young Readies Columbia for Reentry og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Legendary Astronaut John Young Dead at 87 twitter:description: He was the ninth man to walk on the moon twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt368c3207d15212ba/6988f7510a4a22194a9d14e8/john-young.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Legendary Astronaut John Young Dies at 87 > Sponsored content. 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Bettmann—Bettmann Archive  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Jan 6, 2018 7:05 PM UTC Legendary astronaut John Young has died, according to a statement from NASA. He was 87. “We’re saddened by the loss of astronaut John Young, who was 87,” NASA wrote on Twitter. “Young flew twice to the Moon, walked on its surface & flew the first Space Shuttle mission.” > [](https://twitter.com/NASA/status/949691932804083712) Young was the first person to fly six times from earth to space, [according to NASA](https://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/young.html). (He actually made seven trips if you count his lunar liftoff, NASA adds.) He was also the ninth of 12 people to walk on the moon. In total, he spent 835 hours in space flights. Young held a number of titles during his 42-year career with NASA, including Chief of the Astronaut Office. He [retired in 2004](https://www.nasa.gov/vision/space/features/young%5Fretires.html). Former President George H.W. Bush offered his condolences in a statement released Saturday. “Barbara and I join our fellow Americans and many friends in the space community in mourning the loss of astronaut John Young,” the statement reads. “John was more than a good friend; he was a fearless patriot whose courage and commitment to duty helped our Nation push back the horizon of discovery at a critical time.” > [](https://twitter.com/jgm41/status/949704030409969665) The time and cause of Young’s death have not been confirmed. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5091225/john-young-astronaut-dead/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5091225/john-young-astronaut-dead/"},"headline":"Legendary Astronaut John Young Dies at 87","datePublished":"2018-01-06T19:05:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T18:46:25.550Z","description":"He was the ninth man to walk on the moon","url":"https://time.com/5091225/john-young-astronaut-dead/","keywords":["NASA","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt368c3207d15212ba/6988f7510a4a22194a9d14e8/john-young.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jamie Ducharme","jobTitle":"Ducharme is a contributor to TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt368c3207d15212ba/6988f7510a4a22194a9d14e8/john-young.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"John Young Readies Columbia for Reentry","caption":"John Young Readies Columbia for Reentry","creditText":"Bettmann—Bettmann Archive","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/nasa/","name":"NASA"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5091225/john-young-astronaut-dead/","name":"Legendary Astronaut John Young Dies at 87"}}]}] ```