David McDowell Brown

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David Brown
David Brown
Country: United States
Organization: NASA
selected on May 1, 1996
( 16th NASA Group )
Calls: 1 space flight
Begin: January 16, 2003
Landing: February 1, 2003
Time in space: 15d 22h 20min
retired on February 1, 2003
(accident)
Space flights

David McDowell Brown (born April 16, 1956 in Arlington , Virginia , USA ; † February 1, 2003 over the southern United States) was an American astronaut . He died in the Columbia crash in spring 2003. Brown attended Yorktown High School in Arlington until 1974 and then studied at the College of William and Mary , where he received a bachelor's degree in biology in 1978 . In 1982 he finally received a doctorate in medicine from Eastern Virginia Medical School.

Brown joined the US Navy after an internship at the Medical University of South Carolina . After completing his training as an aviation surgeon in 1984, he was senior physician at the marine hospital in Adak ( Alaska ). He was then assigned to Carrier Air Wing 15 aboard the USS Carl Vinson , which was patrolling the West Pacific . From 1988 he was trained as a marine pilot in Beeville ( Texas ). Two years later he received his flying license as the best in his class. He was then trained in Beeville for the A-6E Intruder . In 1991 he became the Naval Strike Warfare Center in Fallon ( Nevada offset), where he was employed as an instructor and planning officer. In addition, he received training on the F / A-18 Hornet and in 1992 flew the A-6E in Strike Fighter Squadron 115 on board the USS Independence off Japan . In 1995 he was transferred to the United States Naval Test Pilot School as its flight doctor. There he also flew the T-38 Talon .

Astronaut activity

Brown was selected by NASA as a space pilot in May 1996 and was deployed to the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston from August 1996 . He completed a two-year astronaut training, which qualified him as a mission specialist. He was initially assigned to payload development for the International Space Station . Later he was a member of the support teams for the space shuttle flights .

STS-107

Brown and six other astronauts took off on January 16, 2003 on the Columbia space shuttle for the STS-107 mission . About 80 scientific experiments were carried out on this 16-day research mission. When the space shuttle took off, however, a piece of foam came off the outer tank and hit the port wing of the orbiter. The damage was noticed, but was not classified as critical by NASA. When the shuttle returned to Earth on February 1, hot gases entered the wing through a damaged heat tile and melted it from the inside. The shuttle got out of hand and broke in the atmosphere. David Brown and the other crew members were killed.

Honors

David Brown was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor in July 2004 . In addition, the asteroid (51825) Davidbrown was named after him.

See also

Web links

Commons : David McDowell Brown  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Brown, David McDowell
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American astronaut
DATE OF BIRTH April 16, 1956
PLACE OF BIRTH Arlington , Virginia
DATE OF DEATH February 1, 2003
Place of death over the southern United States