United States astronaut John Young, who walked on the moon, has died, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said on Saturday. He died late Friday due to complications from pneumonia. Young was 87.

“Nasa and the world have lost a pioneer,” agency administrator Robert Lightfoot said in a statement. “We will stand on his shoulders as we look toward the next human frontier.”

In 1965, Young with fellow astronaut Gus Grissom went to space in the Gemini 3 mission. It was the first two-man US space jaunt.

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Young was the ninth person to set foot on the moon in 1972 when he was on the Apollo 16 mission. He flew into space twice on space shuttles in the 1980s. He became the first person to fly six space missions in 1983.

Born on September 24, 1930, in San Francisco, Young grew up in Orlando. After receiving a degree in aeronautical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1952, he joined the Navy. In 1962, Young joined the Nasa Young and retired in 2004.

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