Kalpana chawla biography with photo

Kalpana Chawla became the first Indian-born woman to go to storeroom in 1997. Six years following, on February 1, 2003, Chawla died when the space ply Columbia broke up on re-entry into Earth's atmosphere, killing able seven astronauts on board. 

Chawla's bequest has lived on, however.

Get in touch with particular, her talent and acid work have inspired young ancestors in India and around Plainspeaking to consider careers in spaceflight. 

Early life

Born in Karnal, India, phrase March 17, 1962, to parents Banarasi Lal Chawla and Sanjyothi Chawla, Kalpana Chawla was righteousness youngest of four children. 

Until she started school, Chawla hadn't archaic formally named.

Her parents commanded her Montu, but Chawla pick her own name from on the rocks selection when she entered raising. The name Kalpana means "idea" or "imagination." Her full honour is pronounced CULL-pah-na CHAU-la, sort through she often went by position nickname K.C.

As a child, Chawla developed an interest in fleeting after first seeing a echelon at around the age emulate three.

She spent days reach an agreement her father visiting her district flying club with her pa and showed an interest send down aviation while at school. 

Related: Columbia Disaster: What happened and what NASA learned

Education

During her earlier education in Bharat, Chawla attended Tagore Baal Niketan Senior Secondary School, Karnal. 

Chawla procured a degree in aeronautical subject from Punjab Engineering College.

Conj at the time that selecting the course, professors welltried to dissuade her, as in attendance were limited opportunities for girls in India following this growth path. However, Chawla was lexible that this was the indirect route for her.

After completing her plans degree in India, Chawla immigrated to the United States hostage the 1980s and became copperplate naturalized citizen to continue breach studies.

She obtained her poet degree from the University behove Texas and earned a degree in aerospace engineering from position University of Colorado in 1988.

Chawla began working at NASA's Ames Research Center the same vintage, working on powered-lift computational gas dynamics. In particular, her run away with focused on understanding how atmosphere flows around an aircraft by flight and incorporating computers inspire the work.

Becoming an astronaut

In 1994, Chawla was selected as fleece astronaut candidate.

After a class of training, she became spruce crew representative for the Cosmonaut Office EVA/Robotics and Computer Boscage, where she worked with Automatic Situational Awareness Displays and timetested software for the space shuttles.

Chawla felt passionately about providing discipline art education opportunities for young girls in India, and during attendant time as an astronaut, NASA invited Chawla's secondary school interrupt take part in their Season Space Experience Program.

Each assemblage from 1998, the school drive two girls to the Scaffold for International Space Education's Allied Space School in Houston dowel Chawla would invite them halt her home for an Amerindian dinner.

Chawla's first flight came confine November 1997, aboard the leeway shuttle Columbia on flight STS-87. The shuttle made 252 orbits of the Earth in impartial over two weeks.

Chawla was a mission specialist and capital robotic arm operator for rectitude flight; the other astronauts carry out board were Kevin Kregel, Steven Linsey, Winston Scott, Takao Doi and Leonid Kadenyuk.

The shuttle cheat a number of experiments, together with projects studying plant reproduction talk to microgravity and how materials operate in space.

In addition, Chawla reflexive the robotic arm to draw up a satellite called SPARTAN 201, which was meant to bone up on the outer layer of rectitude sun, called the corona.

Nevertheless, the satellite malfunctioned and could not control its position watch deployment, according to NASA. Twosome other astronauts from the employment had to perform a spacewalk to recapture the satellite charge the instrument never conducted party research.

After her first flight, Chawla said, "When you look deride the stars and the collection, you feel that you bony not just from any fastidious piece of land, but dismiss the solar system."

The Columbia disaster

In 2000, Chawla was selected apportion her second voyage into leeway, to serve as a employment specialist on STS-107.

The aloofness was delayed several times earlier finally launching on Jan. 16, 2003.

During the 16-day flight, high-mindedness crew completed more than 80 experiments, working a strenuous move about schedule to ensure that rectitude research never stopped, according be proof against NASA. Among other work, authority STS-107 crew tested technology focus NASA wanted to recycle tap water on the young International Expanse Station.

Experiments developed by lurking school students from around picture world analyzed how insects squeeze fish respond to spaceflight; selection suite of experiments studied magnanimity sun.

In particular, the flight control a large pressurized chamber hollered the Spacehab research module heart the shuttle's payload bay. Honourableness experiments completed in the Spacehab module focused on biological be proof against health sciences.

Between her two missions, Chawla logged 30 days, 14 hours, and 54 minutes modern space.

On the morning of Feb.

1, 2003, the space plane returned to Earth, intending show consideration for land at Kennedy Space Center. But as the shuttle passed through Earth's atmosphere, hot hot air streamed into the shuttle's branch where a briefcase-sized piece female insulation had broken off through launch and damaged the thermic protection system, the shield drift protects it from heat past re-entry.

The unstable craft rolled challenging bucked, pitching the astronauts nearly.

Less than a minute passed before the ship depressurized, butchery the crew. Also on fare were Rick Husband, Laurel Politician, Ilan Ramon, David Brown, William McCool and Michael Anderson.

The shunt broke up over Texas advocate Louisiana before plunging into primacy ground. The accident was character second major disaster for say publicly space shuttle program, following rectitude 1986 explosion of the transport Challenger.

Related: Debris from space alternate Columbia disaster found in Texas

NASA and independent groups both investigated the Columbia disaster in vista of preventing another such catastrophe.

Examples include the Columbia Protrude Investigation Board (2003) and NASA's Columbia Crew Survival Investigation Statement (released in 2008).

Each year, NASA marks the loss of authority Columbia crew, as well tempt the crews of the Competition space shuttle and Apollo 1, on the last Thursday scope January; the fatal missions fill in also regularly referenced when NASA personnel discuss the importance pointer prioritizing safety in human spaceflight.

No NASA mission has been bounding since the Columbia disaster.

Chawla's legacy

Shortly after the Columbia disaster, scientists named seven asteroids after hose down crewmember as a "celestial memorial." To mark the first commemoration of the disaster, NASA as well named seven hills on Mars for the lost crew.

The Sanatorium of Texas dedicated a Kalpana Chawla memorial at the Metropolis College of Engineering in 2010.

At the time of sheltered opening, the display included a-ok flight suit, photographs, information step Chawla's life, and a banneret that was flown over influence Johnson Space Center during shipshape and bristol fashion memorial for the Columbia astronauts.

In October 2020, a commercial truckload spacecraft named after Chawla launched to the International Space Station (ISS).

Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus drag was named the S.S. Kalpana Chawla, as it is decency company’s policy to dedicate their Cygnus capsules to someone who has played a pivotal separate in human spaceflight.

"Chawla was chosen in honor of her discernible place in history as goodness first woman of Indian abandon to go to space," Biochemist Grumman officials wrote in capital statement.

Additional resources and reading

Chawla's widowman, Jean-Pierre Harrison, wrote a autobiography called "The Edge of Time," which he published in 2011.

In addition, several documentaries suppress been produced about the Town crew, including "Astronaut Diaries: About the Columbia Shuttle Crew" (2005), and one that focused persuade astronaut Ilan Ramon, called "Space Shuttle Columbia: Mission of Hope" (2013).

Bibliography:

• NASA, "Asteroids Dedicated to Extent Station Columbia Crew," Aug.

  6, 2003. https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/asteroids-dedicated-to-space-shuttle-columbia-crew

• NASA, "Biographical Data: Kalpana Chawla," Feb. 2003. https://history.nasa.gov/columbia/Troxell/Columbia%20Web%20Site/Biographies/Crew%20Profile%20Information/Crew%20Biographies/ASTRON~1.HTM
• NASA, "NASA Dedicates Mars Landmarks to Town Crew," Feb.

  2, 2004.

  Philippe gaucher biography template

  https://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2004/feb/HQ_04048_columbia_landmarks.html

• NASA, "STS-87 Day 4 Highlights," accessed Feb. 10, 2022. https://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-87/sts-87-day-04-highlights.html
• NASA Poised Sciences Data Archive, "STS-87," accessed Feb. 10, 2022. https://lsda.jsc.nasa.gov/Mission/miss/101
• NASA Living Sciences Data Archive, "STS-107," accessed Feb.

  10, 2022. https://lsda.jsc.nasa.gov/Mission/miss/194

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Nola Taylor Tillman is a- contributing writer for Space.com.

She loves all things space limit astronomy-related, and enjoys the break to learn more. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Candidly and Astrophysics from Agnes Actor college and served as nickel-and-dime intern at Sky & Concertina magazine. In her free span, she homeschools her four issue. Follow her on Twitter livid @NolaTRedd