BROWN

Capt. David M. Brown, 46, a flight surgeon in the U.S. Navy, was a native of Arlington, Va., with one claim to fame that other astronauts might find hard to match. While at the College of William and Mary earning his bachelor's degree in biology, Brown, a star gymnast, performed as an acrobat, 7-ft. unicyclist and stilt walker for Circus Kingdom. He was also taking flying lessons. But another interest was medicine, and he earned his doctorate in it from Eastern Virginia Medical School. After his internship, he joined the Navy as a flight surgeon, with assignments varying from director of medical services at the naval hospital in Adak, Alaska, to flight surgeon duty on board the USS Carl Vinson in the Western Pacific. He was the only flight surgeon in a 10-year period chosen for pilot training and eventually became carrier qualified for the A-6E Intruder and an F-18 pilot. His accomplishments include being a strike leader instructor at the Naval Strike Warfare Center. NASA selected him as an astronaut in April 1996. His assignments included support payload development for the International Space Station and orbiter cockpit and landing recovery tasks. He was a mission specialist on STS-107; it was his first shuttle mission. Capt. Brown was unmarried.

  USAF Col. Rick Douglas Husband
  Col. Ilan Ramon
  Mission specialist Kalpana Chawla
  Capt. David M. Brown
  U.S. Navy Cdr. William C. McCool
  Lt. Col. Michael P. Anderson
  U.S. Navy Capt. (select) Laurel Blair Salton Clark

Special Report: Columbia Investigation