Kalpana Chawla

Born On: July 1st, 1961

Born In: Karnal in Haryana

Died On: February 1st, 2003

Career: Astronaut, Aeronautic Engineer

Kalpana Chawla was India's first women aeronautical

engineer to travel into space. She has been a role model to
several women in terms of achievement and contributions to
the field of aeronautics. Growing up in a male dominant
society, Kalpana never let her dreams of flying be affected in
any way. In fact she was the first woman to study
aeronautical engineering in her batch. Some of her
memorials are: the Kalpana Chawla Award given by the
Karnataka Government, a dormitory named after her in the
University of Texas at Arlington from where she did her
Masters and a planetarium in Haryana. This sheds light on her
meritorious and outstanding achievements. Even though her
death was sudden and unfortunate, she left a mark in the
nation and will be remembered forever. Read the following
sections to know more about this dynamic personality, her
career and life.

Early Life

Kalpana Chawla was born on the 1st of July, 1961 in a small town in Karnal located in the state of
Haryana. Her parents, Banarasi Lal Chawla and Sanjyothi had two other daughters named Sunita and
Deepa and a son named Sanjay. Kalpana was the youngest in her family and hence, she was the most
pampered too.

She got educated at the Tagore Public School and later enrolled into Punjab Engineering College to
complete her Aeronautical Engineering Degree in 1982. In the same year, she moved to the US. She got
married to Jean-Pierre Harrison in 1983. He was her flying instructor and an aviation author.
In 1984, she completed her M.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Texas in Arlington. In
1988, she obtained a Ph.D. in the same subject from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Career

Kalpana Chawla was a certified flight instructor who rated

aircrafts and gilders. She also held a commercial pilot license
for single and multi-engine airplanes, hydroplanes and gliders.
Kalpana was a licensed Technician class Amateur Radio person
certified by the Federal Communication commission. Owing to
her multiple degrees in Aerospace, she got a job in NASA as
the Vice President of the Overset Methods, Inc. in 1993. She
was extensively involved in computational fluid dynamics
research on Vertical/Short Takeoff and Landing. It was not
until 1995 that she became a part of the NASA 'Astronaut
Corps'.

Three years later, she was selected for her first mission i.e. to travel around the Earth in a space shuttle.
This operation consisted of six other members. Kalpana was responsible for organizing the Spartan
Satellite but she was unsuccessful in her role due to its malfunction. It was found that due to technical
errors, the satellite defied control of ground staff and flight crew members. Following this, she was
vindicated.

On the other hand, Kalpana Chawla created history for being the first Indian woman to travel in a space
shuttle. She had the privilege of journeying as far as 10.4million km. This approximately adds up to 252
times around the Earth's orbit that comprised of 372 hours in space.

After the Spartan Satellite incident, she was given a technical position. Her excellent work was
recognized and awarded. In 2000, she was again assigned on her second flight mission as a part of Flight
STS-107. Kalpana's responsibility included microgravity experiments. Along with her team members, she
undertook a detailed research on advanced technology development, astronaut health & safety, the
study of Earth and space science. During the course of this mission, there were several mishaps and
cracks were detected in the shuttle engine flow liners. This delayed the project until 2003.

Death
It was on February 1st 2003 that the space shuttle, STS-107, collapsed over the Texas region when it re-
entered the Earth's atmosphere. This unfortunate event ended the lives of seven crew members
including Kalpana.

Achievements and Accolades e

Kalpana Chawla: Biography & Columbia Disaster

By Nola Taylor Redd, Space.com Contributor | August 10, 2012

05:42pm ET

36 7 MORE

The tragic loss of the space shuttle Columbia killed seven astronauts. One of those, Kalpana Chawla, was
the first Indian-born woman in space.

Kalpana Chawla flew on two shuttle missions.

Credit: NASA

Born in Karnal, India, on July 1, 1961, Chawla was the youngest of four children. The name Kalpana
means "idea" or "imagination." Her full name is pronounced CULL-puh-na CHAV-la, though she often
went by the nickname K.C.

Chawla obtained a degree in aeronautical

engineering from Punjab Engineering College before
immigrating to the United States and becoming a
naturalized citizen in the 1980s. She earned a
doctorate in aerospace engineering from the
University of Colorado in 1988, having previously
obtained her masters degree from the University of
Texas. She began working at NASA's Ames Research Center the same year, working on power-lift
computational fluid dynamics.

In 1994, Chawla was selected as an astronaut candidate. After a year of training, she became a crew
representative for the Astronaut Office EVA/Robotics and Computer Branches, where she worked with
Robotic Situational Awareness Displays and tested software for the space shuttles.

Chawla's first opportunity to fly in space came in November 1997, aboard the space shuttle Columbia on
flight STS-87. The shuttle made 252 orbits of the Earth in just over two weeks. The shuttle carried a
number of experiments and observing tools on its trip, including a Spartan satellite, which Chawla
deployed from the shuttle. The satellite, which studied the outer layer of the sun, malfunctioned due to
software errors, and two other astronauts from the shuttle had to perform a spacewalk to recapture it.

Disaster strikes

In 2000, Chawla was selected for her second voyage into space,
serving again as a mission specialist on STS-107. The mission was
delayed several times, and finally launched in 2003. Over the
course of the 16-day flight, the crew completed more than 80
experiments.

This image of the STS-107 shuttle Columbia crew in orbit was

recovered from wreckage inside an undeveloped film canister.
The shirt colors indicate their mission shifts. From left (bottom
row): Kalpana Chawla, mission specialist; Rick Husband, commander; Laurel Clark, mission specialist; and
Ilan Ramon, payload specialist. From left (top row) are astronauts David Brown, mission specialist;
William McCool, pilot; and Michael Anderson, payload commander. Ramon represents the Israeli Space
Agency.

Credit: NASA/JSC

On the morning of Feb. 1, 2003, the space shuttle returned to Earth, intending to land at Kennedy Space
Center. At launch, a briefcase-sized piece of insulation had broken off and damaged the thermal
protection system of the shuttle's wing, the shield that protects it from heat during re-entry. As the
shuttle passed through the atmosphere, hot gas streaming into the wing caused it to break up. The
unstable craft rolled and bucked, pitching the astronauts about. Less than a minute passed before the
ship depressurized, killing the crew. The shuttle broke up over Texas and Louisiana before plunging into
the ground. The accident was the second major disaster for the space shuttle program, following the
1986 explosion of the shuttle Challenger.

The entire crew of seven was killed. In addition to Chawla, the crew included:

Commander Rick D. Husband

Pilot William C. McCool

Payload Commander Michael P. Anderson

Payload Specialist Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli astronaut

Mission Specialists David M. Brown and Laurel B. Clark

Over the course of her two missions, Chawla logged 30 days, 14 hours, and 54 minutes in space. After
her first launch, she said, "When you look at the stars and the galaxy, you feel that you are not just from
any particular piece of land, but from the solar system.