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.
Brown, the 1986 recipient of the Navy Operational Flight Surgeon of the Year award, received numerous decorations including:
The symbol indicates a posthumous award.
STS-118
This was the first flight of "Endeavour" since STS-113 in November 2002, which was also the last successful shuttle flight before STS-107 which culminated in the loss of "Columbia" when it disintegrated during reentry. STS-118 pilot Charles Hobaugh had been the entry team CAPCOM for STS-107. "Columbia" would have been chosen for this mission, for what would have been its 29th mission, and its first and likely its only mission to the ISS.