United States Astronaut. Born in Arlington, Virginia, he attended Eastern Virginia Medical School and joined the US Navy immediately after his internship in 1982. He served as director of medical services at Navy Branch Hospital in Adak, Alaska, became a naval aviator in Beeville, Texas in 1990 and was a US Navy Captain test pilot in 1995. In 1996, he was selected as a Mission Specialist in the NASA Space Shuttle program and was a Astronaut on the shuttle Columbia science and research mission flight on January 16, 2003. On February 1, 2003, NASA lost all contact with the shuttle Columbia just minutes before scheduled landing time. A short time later it was confirmed that the Columbia had exploded over eastern Texas and that there were no survivors. (bio by: John “J-Cat” Griffith)