Justin Brown | |
|---|---|
 Justin Brown (bottom right) with the NEEMO 16 crew, June 2012 | |
| Born | |
| Alma mater | Florida State University |
| Occupation | Aquanaut |
Justin Brown is an American professionalaquanaut with theUniversity of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW). He serves as a habitat technician atAquarius Reef Base, the world's onlyundersea research laboratory.[1][2]
Brown was born inStreator, Illinois, but moved toCentral Florida while inmiddle school.[3] He received a degree incriminology fromFlorida State University (FSU), where he also minored inbiology. After a two-weekinternship at Aquarius Reef Base through FSU's Underwater Crime Scene Investigation dive classes in 2006, Brown interned for an entire semester at Aquarius and was then offered a permanent position. He eventually became a senior member of the dive team.[1][dead link][3]
Talacek serves as a habitat technician atAquarius Reef Base for theNational Undersea Research Center (NURC), maintaining the daily operations of Aquarius.[1][dead link] In a July 2011 blog entry, Brown commented, "When the idea of what we do sets in I get the typical responses of 'that's the coolest job ever' or 'wow, I've never knew stuff like that existed.'"[4]
As a habitat technician during Aquarius missions, Brown's responsibilities include habitat operations and maintenance, including carrying out dives to maintain the exterior of the habitat. He also monitorslife support systems, communicates with the crew on shore, and acts as adivemaster for the scientists aboard Aquarius.[5] In August 2009, during the investigation of the death of Aquarius aquanautDewey Smith, Brown served as safety observer in an underwater test in which the hydraulic hammer in use near Smith at the time of his fatal accident was again used underwater in the vicinity of anInspiration closed circuit rebreather (CCR) similar to the one Smith had been using.[6]
In June 2012, Brown took part as a habitat technician in theNASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations 16 (NEEMO 16) mission, one of a series ofNASA-NOAA missions which use Aquarius as ananalog environment for space exploration. The NEEMO 16 crew lived and worked underwater aboard Aquarius for twelve days, simulating techniques to be used byastronauts on a future mission to anasteroid.[7][8][9]
Brown lives inHomestead, Florida with his girlfriend and theirgoldendoodle.[1][dead link] He has volunteered as a coach with theCoral Shores High Schoolwrestling team and has run5k,half marathon,triathlon andadventure races.[3]
