Kalpana Chawala – NASA ASTRONAUT

Kalpana Chawla was an American astronaut, engineer, and the first woman of Indian origin to go to space. She was born in 1962 in a Punjabi family at Karnal, Haryana, India. Here parents were Banarasi Lal Chawla and Sanjyoti.

Born: 17th March 1962

Died: 1st February 2003 (She was chosen to be a part of the Space Shuttle Columbia team, which flew to space in 1997, as a robotic specialist. However, in 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia spacecraft crashed during its return to the earth. Chawla was among the crew members who died in the accident.)

Study:

1. Graduated in 1982 with the Bachelor of Science in Aeronautical Engineer, Punjab Engineering College, India
2. Master’s degree in 1984 in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Texas
3. Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1988 in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Colorado

Citizenship: India (1962–1991), United States (1991–2003)

Career: She started to work at NASA Ames Research Center in 1988, where she did Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) research on vertical and short take-off and landing concepts. Much of Chawla’s research is included in technical journals and conference papers. In 1993, she joined Overset Methods, Inc. as Vice President and Research Scientist specializing in the simulation of moving multiple body problems. Chawla held a Certificated Flight Instructor rating for airplanes, gliders, and Commercial Pilot licenses for single and multi-engine airplanes, seaplanes, and gliders. After becoming a naturalized U.S. citizen in April 1991, Chawla applied for the NASA Astronaut Corps. She joined the corps in March 1995 and was selected for her first flight in 1996.

Honors:

1. The fourteenth contracted Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft mission delivering supplies to the ISS was named the “S.S. Kalpana Chawla” after her.
2. Asteroid 51826 Kalpana Chawla, one of seven named after the Columbia’s crew.
3. On 5 February 2003, the Prime Minister of India, Atal Bihari Vajpayee announced that the meteorological series of satellites, MetSat, was to be renamed “Kalpana”.
4. Regarded as a national hero in India.
5. Many more https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalpana_Chawla