Kalpana Chawla (July 1, 1961 – February 1, 2003) was an Indian-American astronaut with NASA. She was one of seven crew members killed in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.
| Kalpana Chawla | |
|---|---|
 | |
| NASA Astronaut | |
| Born | July 1, 1961 Karnal, Haryana, India |
| Died | February 1, 2003 (aged 41) Over Texas |
| Previous occupation | Research Scientist |
| Time in space | 31d 14h 54m |
| Selection | 1994 NASA Group |
| Missions | STS-87, STS-107 |
| Mission insignia |   |
Early life
Kalpana Chawla was born in a family at Karnal (Haryana) in 1961 to Banarasi Lal Chawla and Sanjyothi. She was born in Model Town Karnal. Her interest in flying was inspired by J. R. D. Tata, a pioneering Indian aviator and industrialist. Chawla has two sisters, Sunita and Deepa, and a brother, Sanjay. Being the youngest the family members gave her the nickname "Montu." In 1983, she met and married Jean-Pierre Harrison, a flying instructor and aviation writer. She became a US citizen in 1990. Her motto was: Follow your dreams, and the brave heart fulfilled it.
[edit] Education
Chawla completed her earlier schooling at Tagore Public School, Karnal. She earned her Bachelor of Engineering B.E degree in aeronautical engineering at Punjab Engineering College in Chandigarh in 1982. She moved to the United States in 1982 and obtained a M.S. degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1984. Chawla went on to earn a second M.S. degree in 1986 and a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering in 1988 from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Later that year she began working for NASA as vice president of Overset Methods, Inc. where she did CFD research on Vertical/Short Takeoff and Landing. Chawla held a Certificated Flight Instructor rating for airplanes, gliders and Commercial Pilot licenses for single and multi-engine airplanes, seaplanes and gliders. She held an FCC issued Technician Class Amateur Radio license.
[edit] NASA career
Kalpana Chawla joined the NASA astronaut corps in March 1995 and was selected for her first flight in 1998. She spoke the following words while travelling in the weightlessness of space, "You are just your intelligence". She had traveled 10.4 million km, as many as 252 times around the Earth.
Her first space mission began on November 19, 1997 as part of the six-astronaut crew that flew the Space Shuttle Columbia flight STS-87. Chawla was the first Indian-born woman and the second person of Indian origin to fly in space, following cosmonaut Rakesh Sharma who flew in 1984 in a Soviet spacecraft. On her first mission Chawla travelled over 10.4 million miles in 252 orbits of the earth, logging more than 372 hours in space. During STS-87, she was responsible for deploying the Spartan Satellite which malfunctioned, necessitating a spacewalk by Winston Scott and Takao Doi to capture the satellite. A five-month NASA investigation fully exonerated Chawla by identifying errors in software interfaces and the defined procedures of flight crew and ground control.
After the completion of STS-87 post-flight activities, Kalpana was assigned to technical positions in the astronaut office, her performance in which was recognized with a special award from her peers.
In 2000 she was selected for her second flight as part of the crew of STS-107. This mission was repeatedly delayed due to scheduling conflicts and technical problems such as the July 2002 discovery of cracks in the shuttle engine flow liners. On January 16, 2003, Chawla finally returned to space aboard Columbia on the ill-fated STS-107 mission. Chawla's responsibilities included the microgravity[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] experiments, for which the crew conducted nearly 80 experiments studying earth and space science, advanced technology development, and astronaut health and safety.
[edit] Death
Kalpana died in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster which occurred on February 1, 2003, when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas during re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere, with the loss of all seven crew members, shortly before it was scheduled to conclude its 28th mission, STS-107.
[edit] Awards
Posthumously awarded:
[edit] Memorials
- Kalpana Chawla Memorial Scholarship program was instituted by Indian students association (ISA) at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) in 2005 for meritorious graduate students.[13]
- At least 30,000 schoolchildren and citizens joined hands to make a 36.4-km-long human chain to support the demand for a Kalpana Chawla medical college in the city which was announced by then Health Minister of India Dr. C. P. Thakur and later on promised by Prime Minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh. Kalpana Chawla Medical College Nirman Committee backed by volunteers and activists of various organisations, supported by students from 34 schools, swarmed the roads and formed a chain along the roads in Karnal to demonstrate that they continued to rever Kalpana Chawla as an outstanding astronaut.[14]
- Haryana Government accepted the long pending demand of people of Karnal and now work to establish Kalapana Chawla Medical College in Karnal is in its first phase.
- Asteroid 51826 Kalpanachawla, one of seven named after the Columbia's crew.[15]
- On February 5, 2003, India's Prime Minister announced that the meteorological series of satellites, "METSAT", will be renamed as "KALPANA". The first satellite of the series, "METSAT-1", launched by India on September 12, 2002 will be now known as "KALPANA-1". "KALPANA-2" is expected to be launched by 2007.[16]
- 74th Street in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York City has been renamed 74th Street Kalpana Chawla Way in her honor.
- The University of Texas at Arlington (where Chawla obtained a Master of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering in 1984) opened a dormitory named in her honor, Kalpana Chawla Hall, in 2004.[17]
- Kalpana Chawla Award was instituted by the government of Karnataka in 2004 for young women scientists[18]
- The girls hostel at Punjab Engineering College, is named after Kalpana Chawla. In addition, an award of INR twenty five thousand, a medal, and a certificate is instituted for the best student in Aeronautical engineering department[19]
- NASA has dedicated a super computer to Kalpana.[20]
- One of Florida Institute of Technology's student apartment complexes, Columbia Village Suites, has halls named after each of the astronauts, including Chawla.
- NASA Mars Exploration Rover mission has named seven peaks in a chain of hills, named the Columbia Hills, after each of the seven astronauts lost in the Columbia shuttle disaster, including Chawla hill after Kalpana Chawla.
- Steve Morse from the band Deep Purple created a song called "Contact Lost" in memory of the Columbia tragedy along with her interest in the band. The song can be found on the album Bananas.[21]
- Her brother, Sanjay Chawla, remarked "To me, my sister is not dead. She is immortal. Isn't that what a star is? She is a permanent star in the sky. She will always be up there where she belongs."[22] Kalpana Chawla Space Technology Cell, at IIT Kharagpur.
- Novelist Peter David named a shuttlecraft, the Chawla, after the astronaut in his 2007 Star Trek novel, Star Trek: The Next Generation: Before Dishonor.[23]
- Government of Haryana has made a Planetarium after her name called as Kalpana Chawla Planetarium in Jyotisar, Kurukshetra[24]
- Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur started the Kalpana Chawla Space Technology Cell in her honor.[25][26]
- Military housing development at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland has been named Columbia Colony. There is also a street named Chawla Way.
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