MELBOURNE, Fla. — Stroll down the stairwell from the second-story Moon Room at Pineapples in Eau Gallie, and you’ll encounter an MTV-themed mural of an astronaut holding a flag on the lunar surface amid a cosmic backdrop.
Look closely: The astronaut’s spacesuit bears the name “S. Young” — and he sports a distinctive goatee behind his helmet visor.
Life imitates art for Pineapples owner Steve Young, who opened the Highland Avenue three-story restaurant-bar-music venue in April 2021.
The longtime Indialantic resident, who recently sold the telecommunications-installation giant Y-Com, has been selected for a seat on a future Blue Origin rocket capsule trip into space.
“With the sale of the company came lots of stupid money. And with stupid money, you can do stupid things,” Young said during an interview in the Moon Room.
“I have always been a bit of a braggart-slash-showoff. And what’s better than to be able to say you went to space when your buddies can’t?” he asked, laughing.
Young, 59, has been confirmed as a customer aboard a future flight of Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket, said Sara Blask, company spokesperson.
New Shepard is a reusable suborbital rocket that launches from a spaceport pad outside rural Van Horn, Texas, and climbs 62 miles above the Earth’s surface beyond the Kármán line — delivering its passengers several minutes of weightlessness. Then the parachute-equipped, fully autonomous capsule descends to the West Texas desert.
Previous New Shepard space tourism passengers include Amazon-Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos, “Star Trek” icon William Shatner and “Good Morning America” co-anchor Michael Strahan.
Blue Origin successfully completed its fifth human spaceflight on June 4. The six-person crew included former NASA test lead Katya Echazarreta, who became the first Mexican-born woman to fly into space.
Young’s flight date has not been announced. Neither have the identities of Young’s five fellow crew members, Blask said.
He did not divulge how much his seat cost aboard the rocket.
Young designed Pineapples, a three-story dining-entertainment venue with a rooftop deck, as a modern version of the long-defunct Dr. Joe’s Intra-Coastal next door. The business employs about 120 workers as an economic anchor of downtown Eau Gallie.
His father, Gene, and uncle Bill founded Young’s TV Cable in 1972 in Melbourne. After Steve Young graduated from Melbourne High in 1981, he went into the business and ascended to the top leadership position by the early 1990s, expanding and evolving Y-Com into a fiber optics installation giant.
“I took a $1 million annual company and turned it into $100 million,” Young said.
“We are the largest telecom contractor in the state of Florida. And the new owners are taking it to new heights,” he said.
Young completed the sale of Y-Com last year. He applied for an astronaut’s seat with Blue Origin in September, then learned he was approved in November.
Since finalizing paperwork in December, he has awaited his launch date announcement — and he was sworn to secrecy until he broke the news Monday on Facebook.
“I have been officially told that I can now share some EXCITING news. I am taking a real-life rocket ride into space,” Young said in his post.
In March, Winter Park residents Sharon and Marc Hagle became the first married couple to take a commercial spaceflight aboard Blue Origin’s fourth crewed mission.
Young’s wife, Melodie, will accompany him to West Texas, but she will not fly aboard the rocket. He will initially attend New Shepard briefings, followed by two days of astronaut training.
“Most of that is all spent in the capsule, letting you know what to do in-case-of-this and in-case-of-that. It’s all safety features,” Young said.
“The launch takes place very early in the morning. And then, land — and they have a celebration,” he said.
Young said he is “not nervous at all” about his upcoming launch.
“With all the great minds and all the safety precautions, I feel safer than driving in Miami,” he said.
