Kalpana Chawla

Kalpana Chawla (July 1, 1961 - February 1, 2003) was an astronaut space shuttle mission specialistSTS-107 (Columbia) who was killed whencraft disintegrated after reentry intoEarth's atmosphere.

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Kalpana Chawla

Tablecontents

1 Early Life
2 Education
3 NASA Career
4 Personal Characteristics
5 Memoria
6 See also
7 External Links

Early Life

Chawla was bornKarnal, Haryana, India. Her interestflight was inspired by J. R. D. Tata, India's first pilot.

Education

Chawla studied aeronautical engineering atPunjab Engineering CollegePunjab, India 1982 where she earned her BachelorScience degree. Thereafter she moved toUnited StatesobtainMasterScience degreeaerospace engineering from UniversityTexas (1984). Dr. Chawla earneddoctorateaerospace engineering from UniversityColorado 1988. That same year she began workingNASA's Ames Research Center.

Kalpana Chawla becamenaturalized USA citizen,married Jean-Pierre Harrison,freelance flying instructor.

Chawla heldcertified flight instructor's licenseairplaneglider ratings,has commercial pilot's licensessinglemultiengine landseaplanes.

NASA Career

Dr. Chawla entered NASA's astronaut program1994was selectedflight1996. Chawla's first missionspace began on November 19, 1997 as part of6 astronaut crew that flewSpace Shuttle Columbia Flight STS-87. Chawla wasfirst Indian-born womanspace, as well asfirst Indian-Americanspace. (She wassecond person from Indiafly into space, after cosmonaut Rakesh Sharma who went into space1984 inSoviet spacecraft.)

On her first mission Chawla travelled over 6.5 million miles252 orbits ofearth, logging more than 375 hoursspace. During STS-87, she was responsibledeployingSpartan Satellite which malfunctioned forcing two other astronautsgo onspacewalkcapturesolar satellite. A five-month NASA investigation blamederror onflight crewground control. She was fully exonerated (although this did not stop some reporters from making direspectful comments about her involvement inmishap indays after her death inexplosion offinal Columbia mission).

After being selected forsecond flight, Chawla lived atLyndon B Johnson Space Center Houston, Texas, undergoing extensive training. Chawla's mission got delayedJuly 2002 when NASA engineers identified three cracks onshuttle's second engine's liquid hydrogen flow liner. Over six months latershuttle was clearedshe returnedspace inill-fated STS-107 mission.

Chawla was dedicated toscientific goalsSPACEHAB/FREESTAR microgravity research mission,whichcrew conducted nearly 80 experiments studying earthspace science, advance technology development,astronaut healthsafety.

Personal Characteristics

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Chawla's NASA portrait

Chawla wasstrict vegetarian. On her mission, she carriedwhite silk banner as part ofworldwide campaignhonor teachers, as well as nearly two dozen CDs, including ones by Abida Parveen, Yehudi Menuhin, Ravi Shankar,Deep Purple. She wenther first rock concert,Deep Purple show,2001her husband. "Kalpananot necessarilyrock music aficionado," her husband said ofDeep Purple showwentin 2001. "But (she) nevertheless characterizedshow as'spiritual experience.'" The administrator forHindu templeHouston where Chawla attended when her schedule permitted said "She wasnice lady ...very pious."

Memoria

Shortly after her last mission, India renamed its first weather satellite Kalpana-1her honor.

She diedhero androle-modelmany young women, especiallyIndiaparticularly thoseher hometownKarnal where she periodically returnedencourage young girlsfollowher footsteps. Her brother, Sanjay Chawla, remarked "To me, my sisternot dead. Sheimmortal. Isn't that whatstar is? She ispermanent star insky. She will always be up there where she belongs."

After her death, Asteroid 51826 Kalpanachawla was namedher.