[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 5 (Tuesday, January 9, 2018)]
[House]
[Page H24]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           HONORING JOHN YOUNG, CENTRAL FLORIDA'S LOCAL HERO

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Soto) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SOTO. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize the life of an Orlando 
favorite son, a hero that we lost this past weekend, Astronaut John 
Young, who was inspirational and legendary to our community and who 
grew up in College Park in Orlando, Florida. Streets named after him 
span our district, as well as Congresswomen Murphy's and Demings' 
districts in central Florida.
  He was described by our local paper as a ``country boy who grew up in 
Orlando, Florida, back when it was mostly farmland.'' He even got in 
trouble for smuggling a corned beef sandwich into space on Gemini 3.
  He was mostly known for his coolheadedness and calm demeanor as he 
took numerous trips into space with NASA. Some of the flags and mission 
patches he flew into space are on display in our Orlando Science 
Center. In central Florida, we are proud to have the John Young Parkway 
bear his name. He died on January 5, this past Friday, at his home in 
Houston.
  Mr. Young was NASA's longest-serving astronaut. He was the first 
person to orbit the Moon by himself and the ninth person to walk on the 
Moon as well. He was the first person to travel to space six times 
during NASA's Gemini and Apollo lunar missions, and into the space 
shuttle programs as well.
  John Young commanded the first space shuttle flight mission, an 
iconic view that so many central Floridians and so many Americans have 
seen over the years during that program. He was awarded the prestigious 
Congressional Space Medal of Honor in 1981. He represents the very best 
of the Orlando area.
  Rest in peace, Astronaut John Young.

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