“I wanted to clarify a couple of facts reported recently regarding my brother, Dave Brown, a member of the Columbia STS 107 mission. Dave sent several personal emails during the mission,
but at no time did he write about any concerns with damage to the left wing of the orbiter or any other safety issues.As they reached orbit, Dave took his planned photos of the external tank separation, which is standard procedure. These are the photos I discussed with Senator Allen. When I asked Dave at Christmas what he would want me to say if he didn’t make it back, he said the program must go on. He said “I accepted this risk when I took the job, just as I did when I became a Naval aviator.”
Douglas Brown
Feb. 6, 2003
David M. Brown was a captain in the U.S. Navy and was serving as a Mission Specialist on the space Shuttle Columbia. He was a naval aviator and a flight surgeon. STS-107 was his first space flight.