Kalpana Chawla

Kalpana Chawla
Born (1962-03-17)March 17, 1962
Karnal, East Punjab, India
(now in Haryana, India)
Died February 1, 2003(2003-02-01) (aged 40)
Aboard Space Shuttle Columbia over Texas, U.S.
Punjab Engineering College
University of Texas at Arlington
University of Colorado at Boulder
Time in space
 31d 14h 54min[1]
Selection 1994 NASA Group
Missions STS-87, STS-107
Mission insignia
Awards

Kalpana Chawla (March 17, 1962 – February 1, 2003) was an American astronaut and the first woman of Indian origin to go to space.[2][3] She first flew on Space Shuttle Columbia in 1997 as a mission specialist and primary robotic arm operator. In 2003, Chawla was one of the seven crew members who died in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster when the craft disintegrated during its re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere.[4] Chawla was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor,[5] and several streets, universities and institutions have been named in her honor.[6][7][8]

Early life

Chawla was born on 17 March 1962 in Karnal, India, but her official date of birth was altered to 1 July 1961 to allow her to become eligible for the matriculation exam.[9] As a child, Kalpana liked to draw pictures of airplanes.[10]After getting a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh. She moved to the United States in 1982 where she obtained a Master of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1984.[11] Chawla went on to earn a second Masters in 1986 and a PhD[12] in aerospace engineering in 1988 from the University of Colorado Boulder.

Career

In 1988, she began working at NASA, where she did computational fluid dynamics (CFD) research on vertical and/or short take-off and landing (V/STOL) concepts. In 1993, she joined Overset Methods, Inc. as Vice President and Research Scientist specializing in simulation of moving multiple body problems.[13] Chawla held a Certificated Flight Instructor rating for airplanes, gliders and Commercial Pilot licenses for single and multi-engine airplanes, seaplanes and gliders.[14] After becoming a naturalized U.S. citizen in April 1991, Chawla applied for the NASA Astronaut Corps.[15] She joined the corps in March 1995 and was selected for her first flight in 1996.

First space mission

Her first space mission began on May 2, 1997, as part of the six-astronaut crew that flew the Space Shuttle Columbia flight STS-87. Chawla was the first Indian woman to fly in space. She spoke the following words while traveling in the weightlessness of space, "You are just your intelligence." On her first mission, Chawla traveled over 10.4 million miles (16737177.6 km) in 252 orbits of the earth, logging more than 372 hours (15 Days and 12 Hours) in space.[13] 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, Chawla was assigned to technical positions in the astronaut office to work on the space station.

Second space mission

In 2000, Chawla 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 Space Shuttle Columbia on the ill-fated STS-107 mission. The crew performed nearly 80 experiments studying earth and space science, advanced technology development, and astronaut health and safety. During the launch of STS-107, Columbia's 28th mission, a piece of foam insulation broke off from the Space Shuttle external tank and struck the left wing of the orbiter. Previous shuttle launches had seen minor damage from foam shedding,[16] but some engineers suspected that the damage to Columbia was more serious. NASA managers limited the investigation, reasoning that the crew could not have fixed the problem if it had been confirmed.[17] When Columbia re-entered the atmosphere of Earth, the damage allowed hot atmospheric gases to penetrate and destroy the internal wing structure, which caused the spacecraft to become unstable and break apart.[18] After the disaster, Space Shuttle flight operations were suspended for more than two years, similar to the aftermath of the Challenger disaster. Construction of the International Space Station (ISS) was put on hold; the station relied entirely on the Russian Roscosmos State Corporation for resupply for 29 months until Shuttle flights resumed with STS-114 and 41 months for crew rotation.

Death

Chawla died in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster which occurred on February 1, 2003; she was killed, along with the other six crew members, when the Columbia disintegrated over Texas during re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere, shortly before it was scheduled to conclude its 28th mission, STS-107.[19]

Chawla's remains were identified along with the rest of the crew members and were cremated and scattered at National Park in Utah in accordance with her wishes.

The crew of STS-107 in October 2001. From left to right: Brown, Husband, Clark, Kalpana Chawla, Anderson, McCool, Ramon

Honors and recognition

  • Kalpana Chawla Chowk is a name given/dedicated to a crossroad in Borivli, Mumbai in memory of the astronaut.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Life facts". NASA. Retrieved February 27, 2014.
  2. ↑ Salim Rizvi (December 11, 2006). "Indo-US astronaut follows Kalpana's footsteps". New York: BBC. Retrieved November 20, 2012. Almost four years after the death of the first American astronaut Kalpana Chawla in the Columbia space shuttle disaster, Nasa has sent another woman of Indian origin into space.
  3. ↑ Nola Taylor Redd. "Kalpana Chawla: Biography & Columbia Disaster". Space.com. Tech Media Network. Retrieved November 20, 2012.
  4. ↑ "Kalpana Chawla". Retrieved 2012-05-24.
  5. ↑ "Astronaut Bio: Kalpana Chawla 5/04". www.jsc.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2018-01-05.
  6. 1 2 Rajghatta, Chidanand (Jul 12, 2004). "NY has Kalpana Chawla Way". The Times of India. Retrieved 27 February 2014.
  7. 1 2 Saxena, Ambuj. "Kalpana Chawla Space Technology Cell | Flickr – Photo Sharing!". Flickr. Retrieved 2010-12-10.
  8. 1 2 "IBN News". Ibnlive.in.com. 2010-02-03. Retrieved 2010-12-10.
  9. ↑ Salwi, Dilip M (February 20, 2004). "Did you know Kalpana was called Monto?". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on August 20, 2017. Retrieved August 20, 2017.
  10. ↑ http://harrisonpublishing.net/pdf/book/kalpana_book.1.1.pdf
  11. ↑ Chawla, Kalpana (1984), MS Thesis Optimization of cross flow fan housing for airplane wing. installation, University of Texas at Arlington, p. 97
  12. ↑ Chawla, Kalpana (1988), PhD Thesis Computation of dynamics and control of unsteady vortical flows., University of Colorado at Boulder, p. 147
  13. 1 2 "Kalpana Chawla (PH.D)". Biographical Data. NASA. Retrieved September 14, 2014.
  14. ↑ "Kalpana Chawla". I Love India. Retrieved September 14, 2014.
  15. ↑ Basu, Biman (May 2012). "Book Review: Biography of Kalpana Chawla" (PDF). Science Reporter. pp. 40–41. Retrieved 2013-07-06. Born on 17 March 1962 in Karnal, Haryana
  16. ↑ Columbia Accident Investigation Board (August 2003). "6.1 A History of Foam Anomalies (page 121)" (PDF). Retrieved June 26, 2014.
  17. ↑ Marcia Dunn (February 2, 2003). "Columbia's problems began on left wing". Associated Press via staugustine.com.
  18. ↑ "Molten Aluminum found on Columbia's thermal tiles". USA Today. Associated Press. March 4, 2003. Retrieved August 13, 2007.
  19. ↑ Correspondent, A. "Space Shuttle Explodes, Kalpana Chawla dead". Rediff.
  20. ↑ "Tribute to the Crew of Columbia". NASA JPL. Retrieved 2007-06-10.
  21. ↑ "ISRO METSAT Satellite Series Named After Columbia Astronaut Kalpana Chawla". Spaceref.com. Retrieved 2007-06-10.
  22. ↑ "Kalpana Chawla Award instituted". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 2004-03-23. Retrieved 2007-06-10.
  23. ↑ "NASA Names Supercomputer After Columbia Astronaut". About.com. Retrieved 2007-06-10.
  24. ↑ "Space Music – Rock/Pop". HobbySpace. 2005-08-31. Retrieved 2010-12-10.
  25. ↑ David, Peter; Star Trek: Next Generation: Before Dishonor; Page 24.
  26. ↑ Kalpana Chawla International Space University Scholarship Archived March 1, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.
  27. ↑ "Kalpana Chawla Memorial Scholarship". UTEP. Archived from the original on October 2, 2011. Retrieved June 10, 2008.
  28. ↑ "Kalpana Chawla Award". University of Colorado. Archived from the original on March 9, 2012. Retrieved February 12, 2012.
  29. ↑ "Kalpana Chawla Hall". University of Texas at Arlington. Retrieved 2013-05-16.
  30. ↑ "Kalpana Chawla Display Dedicated at Nedderman Hall". The University of Texas at Arlington. Retrieved 2013-05-16.
  31. ↑ "Punjab Engineering College remembers Kalpana". The Indian Express. Archived from the original on August 27, 2006. Retrieved June 10, 2007.
  32. ↑ "Space Technology Cell". Kcstc.iitkgp.ernet.in. Archived from the original on 2007-12-30. Retrieved 2010-12-10.
  33. ↑ "Delhi University".
  34. ↑ "SIRT".
  35. ↑ "Pondicherry University".
  36. ↑ "Truba".

Further reading

  • among The girl stars-Life and Dreams of Kalpana Chawla by Gurdeep Pandher
  • India's 50 Most Illustrious Women ( ISBN 81-88086-19-3) by Indra Gupta
  • Kalpana Chawla, a life ( ISBN 0-14-333586-3) by Anil Padmanabhan
  • The Edge of Time: The Authoritative Biography of Kalpana Chawla ( ISBN 978-0976827917) by Jean-Pierre Harrison
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