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.
Shipwrecks of the inland Columbia River
The sternwheeler "Dalles City" sank on February 8, 1906, after striking a rock in the upper Columbia. Her crew said the steering gear had malfunctioned. "Madeline" hit a snag on the Cowlitz and sank on March 23, 1925. "Diamond O." struck a bridge at Vancouver, rolled over and sank on April 25, 1934.