Onboard are astronauts John Young (CDR), Ken Mattingly (CMP) and Charlie Duke (lmp)

Apollo 16 was the tenth manned mission in the Apollo space program, the fifth and 
to land on the Moon and the first to land in the lunar highlands. The mission lasted eleven days, one hour, and fifty-one minutes, and concluded at 2:45 PM EST on
April 27

The space probe Mariner 10 became the first spacecraft to reach the planet
Mercury. It had been launched on November 3, 1973.The first encounter took
place at a range of 437 miles, passing on the shadow side of the planet. The
probe flew by Mercury again on September 21, 1974. Mariner 10 is still orbiting
the Sun, although its electronics have probably been damaged by the Sun’s
radiation.

Mercury, 6 hours before closest approach of Mariner 10

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           April 9, 1979

 

Gemini 3 Crew from left: John Young and Virgil "Gus" Grissom

Gemini 3 was the first two-man NASA mission and the second manned mission of the
Gemini program. It was also the final manned flight controlled by NASA from Cape
Canaveral, Florida before operations were shifted to the Manned Spacecraft
Center in Houston, Texas. The spacecraft, nicknamed Molly Brown, was
launched with astronauts Virgil I. Grissom and John W. Young aboard.The
mission’s primary goal was to test the new, maneuverable Gemini spacecraft.

The Gemini 3 capsule is pictured atop the Titan ll rocket
prior to launch.

Astronauts Young (left) and  Grissom inside their Gemini 3
spacecraft awaiting blastoff.

Ranger 9. was the last in a series of NASA’S unmanned lunar explorations. It was designed to reach the Moon and transmit high-resolution photographs of the lunar surface during the final minutes before impact. The spacecraft was equipped with
six vidicon cameras that transmitted high-quality television pictures of the Moon
prior to impact on the 24th of March.