David M. Brown

David McDowell Brown (April 16, 1956 – February 1, 2003) 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 was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.

References

Other websites
 David Brown STS-107 Crew Memorial
 Captain David Brown Aerospace and Medical Research Endowment
 Florida Today — Florida Tech dedicates dorms to Columbia 7 — October 29, 2003

Category:1956 births
Category:2003 deaths
Category:American astronauts
Category:Aviation deaths in the United States
Category:Scientists from Virginia
Category:People from Arlington County, Virginia