Curtis Lee "Curt" Brown Jr. (born March 11, 1956) is a former

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a List of human spaceflight programs, human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spa ...

and retired

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

Background

Colonel Brown was born March 11, 1956. He graduated from East Bladen High School in

Elizabethtown, North Carolina Elizabethtown is a town in Bladen County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 3,296 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Bladen County. History Some hold Elizabethtown is named for Elizabeth, the wife of George Carteret, ...

in 1974 and received a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree in

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

from the

United States Air Force Academy The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) is a United States service academies, United States service academy in Air Force Academy, Colorado, Air Force Academy Colorado, immediately north of Colorado Springs, Colorado, Colorado Springs. I ...

in 1978. He is a member of the United States

Air Force Association The Air & Space Forces Association (AFA) is an independent, 501(c)(3) non-profit, professional military association for the United States Air Force and United States Space Force. Headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, its declared mission is " ...

, the United States Air Force Academy Association of Graduates, and the

Experimental Aircraft Association The Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) is an international organization of aviation enthusiasts based in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Since its inception, it has grown internationally with over 300,000 members and nearly 1,000 chapters worldwide. ...

Military service

He was commissioned a Second Lieutenant at the

Colorado Springs, Colorado Colorado Springs is the most populous city in El Paso County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, a 15.02% increase since 2010 United States Census, 2 ...

, in 1978, and completed

Undergraduate Pilot Training The Air Education and Training Command (AETC) is one of the nine List of major commands of the United States Air Force, Major Commands (MAJCOM) of the United States Air Force (USAF), reporting to Headquarters, United States Air Force. It was esta ...

Laughlin Air Force Base Laughlin Air Force Base is a facility of the United States Air Force located east of Del Rio, Texas. Overview Laughlin AFB, the largest Aviator, pilot training base in the US Air Force, is home to the 47th Flying Training Wing of the Air Educa ...

Del Rio, Texas Del Rio (in Spanish language, Spanish, ''Del Río'', "from the river") is a city in and the county seat of Val Verde County, Texas, Val Verde County in southwestern Texas, United States. As of 2020 United States census, 2020, Del Rio had a popul ...

. He graduated in July 1979 and was assigned to fly

A-10 The Fairchild Republic A-10 , also infamously known under the nickname , is a single-seat, twin-turbofan, straight-wing, subsonic attack aircraft developed by Fairchild Republic for the United States Air Force (USAF). In service since 19 ...

aircraft at

Myrtle Beach Air Force Base Myrtle Beach Air Force Base was a United States Air Force base located near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Early history On 16 October 1939, Myrtle Beach Town Council agreed that the community "is in dire need of a modern municipal airport". The ...

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

, arriving there in January 1980 after completing A-10 training at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base,

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

. In March 1982, he was reassigned to Davis-Monthan AFB as an instructor pilot in the A-10. In January 1983, he attended USAF Fighter Weapons School at

Nellis Air Force Base Nellis Air Force Base ("Nellis" colloquialism, colloq.) is a United States Air Force military installation, installation in southern Nevada. Nellis hosts Aerial warfare, air combat exercises such as Exercise Red Flag and close air support exerc ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

and returned to Davis-Monthan AFB as an instructor in A-10 weapons and tactics. In June 1985, he attended

USAF Test Pilot School The U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School (USAF TPS) is the Air Force's advanced flight training school that trains experimental test pilots, flight test engineers, and flight test navigators to carry out tests and evaluations of new aerospace wea ...

Edwards Air Force Base Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force installation in California. Most of the base sits in Kern County, California, Kern County, but its eastern end is in San Bernardino County, California, San Bernardino County and a souther ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. Upon graduation in June 1986, Brown was assigned to

Eglin Air Force Base Eglin Air Force Base is a United States Air Force (USAF) base in the western Florida panhandle, located about southwest of Valparaiso, Florida, Valparaiso in Okaloosa County, Florida, Okaloosa County. The host unit at Eglin is the 96th Test ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, where he served as a

test pilot A test pilot is an aircraft pilot with additional training to fly and evaluate experimental, newly produced and modified aircraft with specific maneuvers, known as flight test techniques.Stinton, Darrol. ''Flying Qualities and Flight Testin ...

in the

and

F-16 The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is an American single-engine supersonic multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it e ...

aircraft until his selection for the astronaut program. He has logged over 6,000 hours flight time in jet aircraft.

NASA

Selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in June 1987, Brown completed a one-year training and evaluation program in August 1988, and is qualified for flight assignment as a pilot. Technical assignments have included: involvement in the upgrade of the Shuttle Mission Simulator (SMS), development of the Flight Data File (FDF), lead of the astronaut launch support team responsible for crew ingress/strap-in prior to launch and crew egress after landing; monitored the refurbishment of OV-102 and OV-103 during ground turnaround processing; lead spacecraft communicator (

CAPCOM is a Japanese video game company. It has created a number of critically acclaimed and List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil'', ''Monster ...

), Astronaut Office Lead of Shuttle Operations, and Deputy Director, Flight Crew Operations Directorate.

Space flights

A veteran of six space flights, Brown has logged over 1,383 hours in space. He was the pilot on

STS-47 STS-47 was NASA's 50th Space Shuttle mission of the Space Shuttle program, program, as well as the second mission of the Space Shuttle Endeavour, Space Shuttle ''Endeavour''. The mission mainly involved conducting experiments in life and mater ...

in 1992,

STS-66 STS-66 was a Space Shuttle program mission that was flown by the Space Shuttle ''Atlantis''. STS-66 launched on November 3, 1994, at 11:59:43.060 am EDT from Launch Pad 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. ''Atlantis'' landed at Edwards Air For ...

in 1994 and

STS-77 STS-77 was the 77th Space Shuttle mission and the 11th mission of the Space Shuttle ''Endeavour''. The mission began from launch pad 39B from Kennedy Space Center, Florida on 19 May 1996 lasting 10 days and 40 minutes and completing 161 revolut ...

in 1996, and was spacecraft commander on

STS-85 STS-85 was the 23rd flight of Space Shuttle ''Discovery'' that performed multiple space science packages. It was launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 7 August 1997. The main STS-85 payloads included the satellite known as Cryogenic ...

in 1997,

STS-95 STS-95 was a Space Shuttle mission launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida on 29 October 1998, using the orbiter Space Shuttle Discovery, ''Discovery''. It was the 25th flight of ''Discovery'' and the 92nd mission flown since the start of the ...

in 1998, and

STS-103 STS-103, the 96th launch of the Space Shuttle and the 27th launch of Space Shuttle ''Space Shuttle Discovery, Discovery'', was a Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission. It launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 19 December 1999 and ...

in 1999.

STS-47

Brown's first spaceflight was

aboard the . The mission launched September 12, 1992 14:23 (UTC) and was an eight-day cooperative mission between the United States and Japan focused on

life science Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, organisation, metabolism, growth, adaptation, respon ...

and

materials processing In engineering, a process is a series of interrelated tasks that, together, transform inputs into a given output.ANSI/EIA-632-1998 Processes for Engineering a System, Appendix A These tasks may be carried out by people, nature or machines using ...

experiments in space. After completing 126 orbits of Earth, the mission ended with the ''Endeavour'' landing at the

Shuttle Landing Facility The Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF), also known as Launch and Landing Facility (LLF) , is an airport located on Merritt Island, Florida, Merritt Island in Brevard County, Florida, Brevard County, Florida, United States. It is a part of the Kennedy ...

in Florida, September 20, 1992 12:53 (UTC). Mission duration was 190 hours, 30 minutes, 23 seconds.

STS-66

For Brown's second spaceflight,

, he piloted the . The mission lifted off from

Launch Complex 39B Launch Complex 39B (LC-39B) is the second of Launch Complex 39's three launch pads, located at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Merritt Island, Florida. The pad, along with Launch Complex 39A, was first designed for the Saturn V launch vehicle, ...

November 3, 1994 16:59 (UTC). was the Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science 3 (ATLAS-3) mission. ATLAS-3 was part of an ongoing program to determine the Earth's energy balance and

atmospheric An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosphere ...

change over an 11-year solar cycle. Following 175 orbits of the Earth, the 11-day mission ended with the ''Atlantis'' landing at

, California, November 14, 1994 15:34 (UTC). Mission duration was 262 hours and 34 minutes.

STS-77

Brown served as pilot for the third time during

aboard the . Lift-off of the ten-day mission occurred May 19, 1996 10:30 (UTC). The crew performed a record number of rendezvous sequences (one with a SPARTAN satellite and three with a deployed Satellite Test Unit) and approximately 21 hours of

formation flying Formation flying is the flight of multiple objects in coordination. Formation flying occurs in nature among flying and gliding animals, and is also conducted in human aviation, often in military aviation and air shows. A multitude of studies have ...

in proximity of the satellites. During the flight the crew also conducted 12

fluid dynamics In physics, physical chemistry and engineering, fluid dynamics is a subdiscipline of fluid mechanics that describes the flow of fluids – liquids and gases. It has several subdisciplines, including (the study of air and other gases in motion ...

, and

biotechnology Biotechnology is a multidisciplinary field that involves the integration of natural sciences and Engineering Science, engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms and parts thereof for products and services. Specialists ...

experiments in a

Spacehab Astrotech Corporation, formerly Spacehab Inc., is a technology incubator headquartered in Austin, Texas. Astrotech uses technology sourced internally and from research institutions, government laboratories, and universities to fund, manage and se ...

Module. STS-77 deployed and retrieved a SPARTAN satellite, which carried the Inflatable Antenna Experiment designed to test the concept of large, inflatable space structures. A small Satellite Test Unit was also deployed to test the concept of self-stabilization by using

aerodynamic Aerodynamics () is the study of the motion of atmosphere of Earth, air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dynamics and its subfield of gas dynamics, and is an ...

forces and

magnetic Magnetism is the class of physical attributes that occur through a magnetic field, which allows objects to attract or repel each other. Because both electric currents and magnetic moments of elementary particles give rise to a magnetic field, m ...

damping. The mission was concluded in 160 Earth orbits, with a landing at the Shuttle Landing Facility May 29, 1996 11:10 (UTC) after traveling 4.1 million miles in 240 hours and 39 minutes.

STS-85

Brown's first command and fourth spaceflight was

aboard the . The shuttle lifted off from

Launch Complex 39A Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) is the first of Launch Complex 39's three launch pads, located at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Merritt Island, Florida. The pad, along with Launch Complex 39B, was built in the 1960s to accommodate the Saturn V lau ...

August 7, 1997 14:41 (UTC) on a 12-day mission during which the crew deployed and retrieved the CRISTA-SPAS payload, operated the Japanese Manipulator Flight Demonstration (MFD) robotic arm, studied changes in the Earth's atmosphere and tested technology destined for use on the future

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

. The mission was accomplished in 189 Earth orbits, and concluded with a landing at the Shuttle Landing Facility August 19, 1997 11:08 (UTC) after traveling 4.7 million miles in 284 hours and 27 minutes.

STS-95

Brown flew in space for the fifth time during

as commander aboard the . Lifting off from Launch Complex 39B October 29, 1998 19:19 (UTC),

was a 9-day mission during which the crew supported a variety of research payloads including deployment of the Spartan solar-observing spacecraft, the

Hubble Space Telescope The Hubble Space Telescope (HST or Hubble) is a space telescope that was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990 and remains in operation. It was not the Orbiting Solar Observatory, first space telescope, but it is one of the largest and most ...

Orbital Systems Test Platform, and investigations on space flight and the aging process. The mission was accomplished in 134 Earth orbits, touching down at the Shuttle Landing Facility November 7, 1998 17:04 (UTC) after traveling 3.6 million miles in 213 hours and 44 minutes. The mission was highly publicized for the return of 77-year-old Senator

John Glenn John Herschel Glenn Jr. (July 18, 1921 – December 8, 2016) was an American Marine Corps aviator, astronaut, businessman, and politician. He was the third American in space and the first to orbit the Earth, circling it three times in 1 ...

's return to space after 38 years. This flight made Brown the only astronaut besides Tom Stafford to have commanded a member of the

Mercury 7 The Mercury Seven were the group of seven astronauts selected to fly spacecraft for Project Mercury. They are also referred to as the Original Seven and Astronaut Group 1. Their names were publicly announced by NASA on April 9, 1959: Scott Ca ...

on a mission.

STS-103

Brown's sixth and final spaceflight was

as commander aboard the . Lifting off from Launch Complex 39A December 20, 1999 00:50 (UTC), STS-103 was an 8-day mission during which the crew successfully installed new instruments and upgraded systems on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Enhancing HST scientific capabilities required three space walks. The STS-103 mission was accomplished in 120 Earth orbits, touching down at the Shuttle Landing Facility December 28, 1999 00:01 (UTC) after traveling 3.2 million miles in 191 hours and 11 minutes.

Post-NASA career

Brown left NASA in May 2000 and became an airline pilot for

American Airlines American Airlines, Inc. is a major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, and is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the ...

and later

Sun Country Airlines Sun Country Airlines is an ultra-low cost airline in the United States. Based at Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport with headquarters on airport property, Sun Country operates to about 140 destinations in the United States, Canad ...

. He was inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame in April 2013. He is currently the chairman of the board of the directors of the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation.

Awards and decorations

* Distinguished Flying Cross *

Defense Superior Service Medal The Defense Superior Service Medal (DSSM) is a military decoration of the United States Department of Defense, which is presented to United States Armed Forces service members who perform superior meritorious service in a position of significant ...

Defense Meritorious Service Medal The Defense Meritorious Service Medal (DMSM) is an award bestowed upon members of the United States military by the United States Department of Defense. In the order of precedence of the United States Armed Forces, it is worn between the Purple ...

(2x) * Air Force Meritorious Service Medal *

Air Force Commendation Medal The Commendation Medal is a mid-level United States military decoration presented for sustained acts of heroism or meritorious service. Each branch of the United States Armed Forces issues its own version of the Commendation Medal, with a fift ...

Air Force Achievement Medal The Achievement Medal is a military decoration of the United States Armed Forces. The Achievement Medal was first proposed as a means to recognize outstanding achievement or meritorious service of military personnel who were not eligible to rece ...

* *

NASA Space Flight Medal The NASA Space Flight Medal is a decoration of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. According to its statutes, it is awarded "for significant achievement or service during individual participation as a civilian or military astronau ...

(6x)

References

External links

*
Spacefacts biography of Curtis Brown
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Curtis 1956 births Living people American test pilots Aviators from North Carolina People from Elizabethtown, North Carolina Recipients of the Defense Superior Service Medal United States Air Force Academy alumni United States Air Force astronauts United States Air Force officers U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School alumni United States Astronaut Hall of Fame inductees Space Shuttle program astronauts