NASA / GETTY IMAGES
	David Brown, physician and pilot, photographed in December at Kennedy Space Center.

"I got a brochure that showed a Navy physician standing on a flight deck next to an F-4 Phantom," Brown said. "I said, 'Boy, I've got to go learn about this.' "

That decision put Brown on a career path in medicine that turned out to be anything but traditional. It ultimately earned the 46-year-old doctor a spot among shuttle Columbia's crew. The mission was the bachelor's first trip into space.

"I remember growing up thinking astronauts and their job was the coolest thing you could possibly do," Brown said. "I thought they were movie stars ... and so, I couldn't see a path how a normal kid could ever get to be one of these people."

Brown was born in Arlington, Va., and graduated from high school there in 1974. Four years later, he earned a degree in biology from the College of William and Mary. He was a varsity gymnast while in college and performed in the Circus Kingdom as an acrobat, unicyclist and stilt walker.

In 1982, Brown earned his doctorate in medicine, then did an internship at the Medical University of South Carolina. After his internship, he took the Navy brochure's advice and signed up. He was assigned to a Navy hospital in Alaska as director of medical services after completing flight-surgeon training in 1984.

His next assignment was in the western Pacific Ocean aboard the USS Carl Vinson. For his work there, he was named Navy Operational Flight Surgeon of the Year in 1986. Working around airplanes and treating pilots gave Brown the itch to try flying himself. He applied to a rarely used program that allowed Navy doctors to receive flight training.

"The first time they said, 'No, you're not going to do that,' " Brown recalled. "So, I thought and I said, 'Well, I really would like to do this.' So I reapplied, and they said 'Yes.' "

In 1988, Brown became the only Navy physician in a 10-year period to be chosen for pilot training. He graduated first in his class from flight school two years later. Afterward, he was sent to the Naval Strike Warfare Center in Nevada, where he served as an instructor and planning officer.

He shipped out from Japan aboard the USS Independence in 1992, before beginning a stint as the flight surgeon at the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School in 1995. Since earning his wings, Brown racked up more than 2,700 flight hours, including 1,700 in high-performance military aircraft.

Brown was selected as an astronaut in 1996. His assignments at NASA included payload development for the international space station and a job on the astronaut-support team responsible for setting up the shuttle's cockpit, strapping in the crew and landing recovery.

— Michael Cabbage, The Orlando Sentinel