Curtis Brown

Colonel Brown was born March 11, 1956. He graduated from East Bladen High School in Elizabethtown, North Carolina in 1974 and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the United States Air Force Academy in 1978.

He was commissioned a Second Lieutenant at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 1978, and completed Undergraduate Pilot Training at Laughlin Air Force Base in Del Rio, Texas. He graduated in July 1979 and was assigned to fly A-10 aircraft at Myrtle Beach Air Force Base, South Carolina, arriving there in January 1980 after completing A-10 training at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona. 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, Nevada and returned to Davis-Monthan AFB as an instructor in A-10 weapons and tactics. In June 1985, he attended USAF Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, California. Upon graduation in June 1986, Brown was assigned to Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, where he served as a test pilot in the A-10 and F-16 aircraft until his selection for the astronaut program.

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

A veteran of six space flights, Brown has logged over 1,383 hours in space. He was the pilot on STS-47 in 1992, STS-66 in 1994 and STS-77 in 1996, and was spacecraft commander on STS-85 in 1997, STS-95 in 1998, and STS-103 in 1999.