John Watts Young (1930–2018) was an American astronaut, naval officer and aviator, test pilot, and aeronautical engineer. On April 21, 1972, he became the ninth person to walk on the Moon as commander of Apollo 16. He flew on four different classes of spacecraft: the Gemini capsule, the Apollo command and service module, the Apollo lunar module, and the Space Shuttle. Young served in the U.S. Navy as an aviator, and graduated from the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School. He set multiple world time-to-climb records, and was selected as a member of NASA Astronaut Group 2 in 1962. He flew on Gemini 3 in 1965, and commanded Gemini 10 in 1966. He flew as the command module pilot on Apollo 10 in 1969. After that, he commanded Apollo 16, and spent three days on the lunar surface exploring the Descartes Highlands with Charles Duke. Young also commanded STS-1, the Space Shuttle program's first launch, in 1981, and STS-9 in 1983. He retired from NASA in 2004. (This article is part of a featured topic: NASA Astronaut Group 2.).

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_topics/NASA_Astronaut_Group_2

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1509:

Henry VIII became King of England, following the death of his father Henry VII, eventually becoming a significant figure in the history of the English monarchy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_VIII

1925 or 1926:

Al-Baqi Cemetery in Medina, the site of the mausoleum of four of the Twelve Imams of Shia Islam, was demolished by Wahhabis. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demolition_of_al-Baqi

1962:

The Century 21 Exposition, the first world's fair in the United States since World War II, opened in Seattle. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_21_Exposition

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

hector: 1. (transitive) To dominate or intimidate in a blustering way; to bully, to domineer. 2. (intransitive) To behave like a hector or bully; to bluster, to swagger; to bully. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hector

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

I made a decision to carry out a special military operation. The purpose of this operation is to protect people who, for eight years now, have been facing humiliation and genocide perpetrated by the Kiev regime. To this end, we will seek to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine, as well as bring to trial those who perpetrated numerous bloody crimes against civilians, including against citizens of the Russian Federation. It is not our plan to occupy the Ukrainian territory. We do not intend to impose anything on anyone by force. … The current events have nothing to do with a desire to infringe on the interests of Ukraine and the Ukrainian people. … I would now like to say something very important for those who may be tempted to interfere in these developments from the outside. No matter who tries to stand in our way or all the more so create threats for our country and our people, they must know that Russia will respond immediately, and the consequences will be such as you have never seen in your entire history.   --Vladimir Putin https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Vladimir_Putin