Memories About Dave

Philip Chien, Writer

Dave Brown and Laurel Clark were the medical doctors on the STS-107 crew. They were also the “guinea pigs” for many of the experiments along with Mike Anderson and Ilan Ramon. NASA trained Mike, Ilan, and pilots Rick Husband and Willie McCool to give injections and draw blood for the various experiments. Dave and his colleagues were scheduled for two injections with tracer chemicals and blood draws ten times during the mission. These experiments monitored how the human body processes Calcium and proteins while in space, the same experiments that were performed on John Glenn when he flew on the space shuttle in 1998.

Early in the mission Dave radioed that there was a problem putting the needle in Mike's vein and they had tried twice. He said, "We have a good chance on the third try" and added, "I don't mind at all" (of course he wouldn't - he's on the correct side of the needle!) Beth Vann in the Payloads Operations Control Center replied, "If Mike doesn't mind" and Mike replied, "No Beth, I don't mind." Vann confirmed, "Copy that Mike." A couple of minutes later Dave radioed, "POCC, Columbia, third time's the charm, we're complete with PhAB4 [the name of the experiments]" and Vann replied, "Good news Dave. Thanks for letting us know. And a special thanks to Mike too."

In one of the updates to the crew, Mission Control noted, “The PhAB4 vampires couldn’t be happier with how smoothly the sample collections tracer infusions are going. They really appreciate all of the call downs to let them know how operations are going. Special thanks to Mike for “sticking” it out and giving Dave one more chance to get that [vial] filled. After Flight Day 3, the entire payload crew can truly say – ‘I gave at the office!’”

Scientist John Charles commented about all of the needles, "[The astronauts are] giving 100%, they're there for us 100% of the way. And incredibly they're doing it enthusiastically."

Later in the mission I had the opportunity to talk to the astronauts during a press conference and Dave admitted, "It didn't hurt me a bit.” As he made that joke commander Rick Husband laughed. Dave added, “We've trained quite a bit, and time in hospitals before that. But some days you're right on and some days you're not. Exactly how it felt you'd have to ask Mike, but we're still talking to each other. In fact he has to turn around and draw my blood so it's pretty good motivation to do your best." Mike didn't seem upset that it took Dave three tries to get it right.