- Email: [email protected]
David Brown
OBITUARIES
Obituaries
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David Brown Astronaut, Captain, flight surgeon, and test pilot in the US Navy. Born in Arlington, Virginia, USA, on April 16, 1956; died aged 46 years when the space shuttle Columbia exploded on Feb 1, 2003.
AP
AP
Rights were not granted to include this image in electronic media. Please refer to the printed journal.
Laurel Clark Astronaut, Commander, diving medical officer, and flight surgeon in the US Navy. Born March 10, 1961, in Iowa, USA; died aged 41 years when the space shuttle Columbia exploded on Feb 1, 2003.
The seven astronauts killed in the space shuttle Columbia disaster on Feb 1, 2003, were high achievers at the peak of their careers. An editorial in the New York Times (Feb 3) opined: “astronauts may not get a tremendous amount of attention under ordinary circumstances, but they are the last unspoiled American heroes. Their motives, as far as we can tell, are still pure. They have come to embody whatever remains of the American ideal.” Two of those heroes were doctors, David Brown and Laurel Clark. Although they joined NASA in 1996, this was their first flight to carry out 90 life-science experiments.
avid M Brown was one of the most colourful members of the shuttle astronaut corps. His days at the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, were a combination of hard work for a bachelor of science in biology and training in gymnastics. An adventurous taste was obvious when he was the only student to take up an invitation from the local amusement park for a summer job as an acrobat. He learned to ride a 7-foot unicycle, walk on stilts, and jump from a trampoline over the heads of the band. He took his doctorate in medicine at Eastern Virginia Medical School, in 1982, and after an internship at the Medical University of South Carolina he joined the US Navy. After qualifying as flight surgeon in 1984, he became director of medical services at the Navy Branch Hospital in Adak, Alaska, and then on the USS Carl Vinson in the western Pacific. In 1988, Brown was the only flight surgeon in 10 years chosen by the US Navy for pilot training. His passion for flying began at the age of 7 years when a family friend flew him in a small aeroplane, and he always “remembered the exact moment when I saw that wheel lift off”. He was assigned to the Naval Strike Warfare Centre in Fallon, Nevada, where he flew highperformance jets. But Brown also made the time to appreciate life’s natural beauty. He rode his bike to work 13 miles each way to enjoy the vista of ranches, cows, and alfalfa fields. Before his flight on Columbia he recalled a remark by John Glenn, the first American in space: “when you get up there, you need to make sure you look out the window”. In his last e-mail from space to his parents, who live in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, Brown wrote: “The views of Earth are really beautiful. If I’d been born in space, I would desire to visit the beautiful Earth more than I ever yearned to visit space. It’s a wonderful planet.”
D
Pearce Wright e-mail: [email protected]
THE LANCET • Vol 361 • February 22, 2003 • www.thelancet.com
aurel Clark took part in many of the 90 experiments in Columbia’s SPACEHAB laboratory, which all went smoothly. The only hitch came in her self-described role as “guinea pig” for some of the human science experiments—she was injected with tracer chemicals; donated blood several times; collected samples of her saliva and urine; and kept a log of how well she slept and what she ate. Ground controllers decided she had endured enough needle pricks and deferred the last batch until her return. Born in Iowa, Laurel Blair Salton Clark grew up in Racine, Wisconsin. She took a bachelor of science degree in zoology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1983 and doctorate in medicine from the same school in 1987. While still at medical school, she also trained in diving medicine at the Naval Experimental Diving Unit. After medical school, she studied paediatrics at Naval Hospital Bethesda, Maryland (1987–88). In 1989, she qualified as a diving medical officer and spent 2 years working on submarines. After 6 months of aeromedical training, she was promoted to flight surgeon. Her husband, Jonathan Clark, was a fellow Navy officer who went on to work for NASA. She was a devoted mother to her 8-year-old son, Iain. Clark, who took a hat into space to try to keep her hair under control in microgravity, e-mailed home the day before she died saying, “we are very busy doing science round the clock. I have seen some incredible sights: lightning spreading over the Pacific, the Aurora Australis lighting up the entire visible horizon, the vast plains of Africa and the dunes on Cape Horn . . . the continuous line of life extending from North America, through Central America and into South America, a crescent moon setting over the limb of our blue planet . . . I feel blessed to be here representing our country and carrying out the research of scientists around the world.”
L
707
For personal use. Only reproduce with permission from The Lancet Publishing Group.
Obituaries
Rights were not granted to include this image in electronic media. Please refer to the printed journal.
David Brown Astronaut, Captain, flight surgeon, and test pilot in the US Navy. Born in Arlington, Virginia, USA, on April 16, 1956; died aged 46 years when the space shuttle Columbia exploded on Feb 1, 2003.
AP
AP
Rights were not granted to include this image in electronic media. Please refer to the printed journal.
Laurel Clark Astronaut, Commander, diving medical officer, and flight surgeon in the US Navy. Born March 10, 1961, in Iowa, USA; died aged 41 years when the space shuttle Columbia exploded on Feb 1, 2003.
The seven astronauts killed in the space shuttle Columbia disaster on Feb 1, 2003, were high achievers at the peak of their careers. An editorial in the New York Times (Feb 3) opined: “astronauts may not get a tremendous amount of attention under ordinary circumstances, but they are the last unspoiled American heroes. Their motives, as far as we can tell, are still pure. They have come to embody whatever remains of the American ideal.” Two of those heroes were doctors, David Brown and Laurel Clark. Although they joined NASA in 1996, this was their first flight to carry out 90 life-science experiments.
avid M Brown was one of the most colourful members of the shuttle astronaut corps. His days at the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, were a combination of hard work for a bachelor of science in biology and training in gymnastics. An adventurous taste was obvious when he was the only student to take up an invitation from the local amusement park for a summer job as an acrobat. He learned to ride a 7-foot unicycle, walk on stilts, and jump from a trampoline over the heads of the band. He took his doctorate in medicine at Eastern Virginia Medical School, in 1982, and after an internship at the Medical University of South Carolina he joined the US Navy. After qualifying as flight surgeon in 1984, he became director of medical services at the Navy Branch Hospital in Adak, Alaska, and then on the USS Carl Vinson in the western Pacific. In 1988, Brown was the only flight surgeon in 10 years chosen by the US Navy for pilot training. His passion for flying began at the age of 7 years when a family friend flew him in a small aeroplane, and he always “remembered the exact moment when I saw that wheel lift off”. He was assigned to the Naval Strike Warfare Centre in Fallon, Nevada, where he flew highperformance jets. But Brown also made the time to appreciate life’s natural beauty. He rode his bike to work 13 miles each way to enjoy the vista of ranches, cows, and alfalfa fields. Before his flight on Columbia he recalled a remark by John Glenn, the first American in space: “when you get up there, you need to make sure you look out the window”. In his last e-mail from space to his parents, who live in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, Brown wrote: “The views of Earth are really beautiful. If I’d been born in space, I would desire to visit the beautiful Earth more than I ever yearned to visit space. It’s a wonderful planet.”
D
Pearce Wright e-mail: [email protected]
THE LANCET • Vol 361 • February 22, 2003 • www.thelancet.com
aurel Clark took part in many of the 90 experiments in Columbia’s SPACEHAB laboratory, which all went smoothly. The only hitch came in her self-described role as “guinea pig” for some of the human science experiments—she was injected with tracer chemicals; donated blood several times; collected samples of her saliva and urine; and kept a log of how well she slept and what she ate. Ground controllers decided she had endured enough needle pricks and deferred the last batch until her return. Born in Iowa, Laurel Blair Salton Clark grew up in Racine, Wisconsin. She took a bachelor of science degree in zoology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1983 and doctorate in medicine from the same school in 1987. While still at medical school, she also trained in diving medicine at the Naval Experimental Diving Unit. After medical school, she studied paediatrics at Naval Hospital Bethesda, Maryland (1987–88). In 1989, she qualified as a diving medical officer and spent 2 years working on submarines. After 6 months of aeromedical training, she was promoted to flight surgeon. Her husband, Jonathan Clark, was a fellow Navy officer who went on to work for NASA. She was a devoted mother to her 8-year-old son, Iain. Clark, who took a hat into space to try to keep her hair under control in microgravity, e-mailed home the day before she died saying, “we are very busy doing science round the clock. I have seen some incredible sights: lightning spreading over the Pacific, the Aurora Australis lighting up the entire visible horizon, the vast plains of Africa and the dunes on Cape Horn . . . the continuous line of life extending from North America, through Central America and into South America, a crescent moon setting over the limb of our blue planet . . . I feel blessed to be here representing our country and carrying out the research of scientists around the world.”
L
707
For personal use. Only reproduce with permission from The Lancet Publishing Group.