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QUICK FACTS: KALPANA CHAWLA
The first Indian-American astronaut in space Remembering on her Birth Anniversary on March 17
1. Kalpana was born on March 17, 1962, in Karnal, Haryana.
2. She did her schooling from Haryana, and acquired her Bachelor of Engineering degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Punjab Engineering College in Chandigarh in 1982.
3. To fulfil her desire of becoming an astronaut, she moved to the United States for higher studies. There, she obtained a Master of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1984.
4. 1988, she began working at the NASA Ames Research Centre, where she did Computational Fluid Dynamics( CFD) research on Vertical / Short Take-off and Landing concepts.
5. In 1997, Kalpana first flew on Space Shuttle Columbia STS-87 as a mission specialist.
6. Kalpana was the first Indian-American astronaut and the first India-born woman in space. She was certified with a commercial pilot license for the seaplanes, multi engine air place and glider. She also was a Certificated Flight Instructor for glider and airplanes
7. On her first mission, Kalpana travelled over 10.4 million miles in 252 orbits of the earth, logging more than 372 hours in space
17.03.1962 to 01.02.2003
8. In the year, 2000, Kalpana was selected for her second flight as part of the crew of STS-107. The mission got repeatedly delayed and Kalpana returned to space on January 16, 2003.
9. On February 1, same year, Kalpana Chawla died along with all six other crew members in the Space Shuttle Columbia on the illfated STS-107 mission. The Space Shuttle disintegrated over Texas during re-entry into the Earth’ s atmosphere, leading to the death of all the seven crew members.
10. In her honour, the following are named after Chawla: India’ s first weather satellite, the Kalpana 1; A Nasa Supercomputer; An asteroid, the 51826 Kalpana Chawla, which circles the Sun between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
Advice to Young Generation
Do something because you really want to do it. If you’ re doing it just for the goal and don’ t enjoy the path, then I think you’ re cheating yourself.
I would say if you have a dream, follow it. It doesn’ t really matter whether you are a woman or from India or from wherever.
I don’ t know why I always liked aerospace engineering. I was in the 10th grade when I figured that’ s what I wanted to do.
WINSPIRE: Empowering youth | March, 2017