> I think he's also the first general officer from the NASA astronaut corps.
Apparently he was made a 1* (Brigadier General) to have similar rank with Alexei Leonov, the Soviet commander of the Apollo-Soyuz mission. After that mission he continued to be promoted up through the ranks.
Stafford's first star might have been a little early because of Apollo-Soyuz, but given that he was the first in his Naval Academy class to receive first, second, and third stars, I am sure he would have made general officer regardless.
Making flag rank pulled Stafford away from NASA. Not that he would not have wanted to make flag rank, but becoming a general meant that he had to accept command responsibilities.[1] After Apollo-Soyuz Stafford went from NASA to being in charge of the entire USAF air test program, including his former test pilot school, so very much in his wheelhouse. But that also meant that he would not fly the space shuttle. I think Young made the opposite decision: Retire from the Navy as captain, stay with NASA as civilian astronaut, and fly the shuttle (the first mission, STS-1, and a later one).
There was a severe shortage of experienced astronauts in the late 1970s and early 1980s, <https://np.reddit.com/r/nasa/comments/nx4hh4/who_would_have_...> and NASA would have loved to have Stafford still in the astronaut corps. I bet Stafford in turn envied both Young and Joe Engle; the latter flew the shuttle on the pre-launch ALT tests, then used his X-15 experience to hand fly a hypersonic reentry on STS-2. Really, the ne plus ultra of test piloting.
Apparently he was made a 1* (Brigadier General) to have similar rank with Alexei Leonov, the Soviet commander of the Apollo-Soyuz mission. After that mission he continued to be promoted up through the ranks.