David McDowell Brown Quotes

David McDowell Brown was born in Arlington County, Virginia. He was a United States Navy captain and a NASA astronaut. He died on his first spaceflight, when the Space Shuttle Columbia  (STS-107) disintegrated during orbital reentry into the Earth's atmosphere. Brown became an astronaut in 1996, but had not served on a space mission prior to the Columbia disaster. Brown joined the U.S. Navy after his internship at the Medical University of South Carolina. In 1995, he reported to the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland as their flight surgeon where he also flew the T-38 Talon. Brown logged over 2,700 flight hours with 1,700 in high performance military aircraft. He was qualified as first pilot in NASA T-38 aircraft.