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.
Columbia, Virginia
The town entered an economic decline with the end of passenger railroad service in 1958, and saw many homes and businesses destroyed in floods caused by Hurricanes Camille in 1969 and Agnes in 1972. In the decades afterward, conditions in the town worsened as buildings along its main street either burned down or became abandoned. In May 2014, Columbia's mayor and town council proposed disincorporation, which would result in the town being governed solely by Fluvanna County in exchange for financial aid. Despite efforts by historic preservationists to raise money for the town's continued existence as an independent entity, residents voted to disincorporate in a referendum held on March 17, 2015. The Virginia General Assembly revoked Columbia's town charter on March 3, 2016, via HB14 during the 2016 session. The disincorporation took effect on July 1, 2016.