photo #8828326

December 8th - on this day in 1983, Columbia landed on Runway 17 at Edwards Air Force Base in California, wrapping up the 10-day STS-9 mission.This also marked the sixth and final spaceflight for one of the most legendary American astronauts, John Young. Young piloted the first crewed Gemini mission, Gemini 3, in 1965 and commanded Gemini 10 the year after. He orbited the Moon as the Command Module Pilot for Apollo 10 and walked on the Moon as the Commander of Apollo 16. In 1981, Young served as the Commander of the very first Space Shuttle mission, STS-1. He remains the only astronaut to walk on the Moon and fly on the Space Shuttle.