This Echo is READ ONLY !   NO Un-Authorized Messages Please!
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Glenn Mahone/Doc Mirelson
Headquarters, Washington             Feb. 10, 2003
(Phone: 202/358-1600)

RELEASE: 03-062

DOUGLAS BROWN RELEASES STATEMENT ABOUT EMAILS

     "I wanted to clarify a couple of facts reported recently 
regarding my brother, Dave Brown, a member of the Columbia STS 107 
mission.

Dave sent several personal emails during the mission, but at no time 
did he write about any concerns with damage to the left wing of the 
orbiter or any other safety issues.  As they reached orbit, Dave took 
his planned photos of the external tank separation, which is standard 
procedure. These are the photos I discussed with Senator Allen.

When I asked Dave at Christmas what he would want me to say if he 
didn't make it back, he said the program must go on. He said "I 
accepted this risk when I took the job, just as I did when I became a 
Naval aviator."

Douglas Brown
Feb. 6, 2003

David M. Brown was a captain in the U.S. Navy and was serving as a 
Mission Specialist on the space Shuttle Columbia. He was a naval 
aviator and a flight surgeon. STS-107 was his first space flight.

For more information about NASA on the Internet:
www.nasa.gov

                                -end-
                                * * *
 - End of File -
================

---