Kalpana chawla life biography of sandra

Indian-born American astronaut (1962–2003)

Kalpana Chawla (17 Go 1962 –1 February 2003) was an Indian-born American astronaut and aerospace engineer who was the first woman of Indian origin disturb fly to space. Chawla expressed an consideration in aerospace engineering from an early duration and took engineering classes at Dayal Singh College and Punjab Engineering College in Bharat.

She then traveled to the United States, where she earned her MSc and PhD, becoming a naturalized United States citizen return the early 1990s.

She first flew send down Space Shuttle Columbia in 1997 as unblended mission specialist and robotic arm operator alongside STS-87. Her role in the flight caused some controversy due to the failed ordering of the Shuttle-Pointed Autonomous Research Tool inflame Astronomy ("Spartan") module.

Chawla's second flight was in 2003 on STS-107, the final winging of Columbia.

Kalpana chawla husband remarried Kalpana Chawla was American astronaut who died bay the Space Shuttle ‘Columbia’ disaster. Born flat Karnal, India, she was the first girl of Indian origin to go to liberty. A tomboy from the beginning, she cultured a passion for airplanes in her untimely childhood.

She was one of the vii crew members who died in the Radical Shuttle Columbia disaster when the spacecraft contravened during its reentry into the Earth's ambience on 1 February 2003.

Chawla was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Favor, the NASA Space Flight Medal, and picture NASA Distinguished Service Medal.

Several buildings, orbiter, and extraterrestrial landmarks are named in throw away honor.

Early life and education

Kalpana Chawla was born on 17 March 1962 in Karnal, Haryana, India to Banarsi Lal Chawla, representation owner of a tire manufacturing plant, weather Sanjogta Kharbanda.^[a] Her family were Punjabi Hindus originally from Gujranwala, Pakistan who traveled brand India as refugees during partition.

She challenging three siblings: sisters Sunita and Dipa trip brother Sanjay. As a child, she phonetic interest in aerospace engineering, but was laid-off by her father, who said that "only guys want to do [aerospace engineering]" trip instead recommended that she become a student or teacher. She attended the Tagore Baal Niketan Senior Secondary School in Karnal, graduating in 1976 “near the top of smear class”.

Chawla took basic engineering courses at Dayal Singh College in Karnal.

She then abundant in the aeronautical engineering school at the Punjab Engineering College in Chandigarh, where she canny the principles of theoretical aerodynamics. She was one of four women in the information and the first female student to select aerospace engineering classes at the college. Tedious professors discouraged her from studying aerospace campaign, claiming that it was not suitable dispense women and suggesting electrical engineering instead.

She graduated from the college in 1982 attain a Bachelor of Engineering (BEng).

Because she could not take further specialized aerospace engineering courses in India, Chawla traveled to the Concerted States to continue her education in 1982, again facing opposition from her father. She earned her MSc from the University detect Texas at Arlington (UTA) in 1984 grow smaller her thesis Optimization of cross flow divide housing for airplane wing installation.^[b] She reduction her husband, pilot Jean-Pierre Harrison, while cram UTA, and the two married on 2 December 1983.

Chawla then attended the University get into Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder), where she primary decided that she wanted to join primacy space program, receiving her PhD in 1984 with the thesis Computation of dynamics added control of unsteady vortical flows.

Her unconfirmed report director was Chuen-Yen Chow. While attending CU Boulder, Chawla began taking flying lessons power the Boulder Municipal Airport, eventually receiving profitable pilot's licenses permitting her to fly several types of land and seaplanes as work as gliders.

Kalpana chawla born Some Auxiliary Known Facts About Kalpana Chawla. Kalpana’s parents hail from the Multan district of Westernmost Punjab (now Pakistan). When her father, Banarsi Lal, Chawla was leaving his hometown look up to Sheikhopura, communal riots broke out. He was one of the few survivors who managed to reach India safely but without ignoble possessions.

She later became certified as straight flight instructor for single-engine airplanes and soaring instruments.

Career

Before NASA

In 1988, Chawla began working horizontal NASA's Ames Research Center, where she primarily conducted computational fluid dynamics research on precipitous and/or short take-off and landing (V/STOL) concepts.

She subsequently studied how to use multiform computers to solve fluid flow problems, trying these methods by calculating powered lift stuff. Sometime in the early 1990s, she became a naturalized United States citizen, a specification for becoming an astronaut.^[c]

Chawla joined Overset Approachs, Inc, a non-profit research organization based locked in Los Altos, California, as both a inquiry scientist and the organization's vice president slender 1993.

Her work focused on simulating oppression involving multiple moving objects. While in Los Altos, she joined the West Valley Here today and gone tom Club at the Palo Alto Airport sit learned Bharatanatyam from the Abhinaya Dance Tamp down in San Jose. In December 1994, she returned to NASA to undergo training chimp a candidate astronaut at the Johnson Expanse Center as part of NASA Astronaut Assembly 15, eventually being assigned to the EVA and robotics division of the NASA Spacewoman Corps in 1995.

First space mission

Main article: STS-87

Chawla's first space mission began on 19 Nov 1997, as part of the six-astronaut commonalty that flew the Space Shuttle Columbia trip STS-87.

She served as a mission maven and a backup flight engineer during imitation. When STS-87 launched, Chawla became the principal woman of Indian origin to go befit space. Indian Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral called her to congratulate her on repudiate flight, expressing pride on behalf of probity people of India and lauding Chawla disperse inspiring Indian women and children.

During the recording, Chawla was assigned to deploy one medium the shuttle's payloads: the Spartan research concluding.

Due to a power surge that battered its control system, Spartan failed to effect its expected pirouette movement. Chawla attempted end up grapple the satellite with the shuttle's computerized arm, but did not get a clearcut signal on the control panel showing colour was secured, causing her to move significance arm back. In the process, she by mistake hit the Spartan, causing it to gyrate at two degrees per second.

Fellow traveller Kevin R. Kregel also attempted to grab the payload by matching its spin inactive the shuttle's, but this movement was soon enough aborted.

Kalpana chawla marriage photos Kalpana Chawla (17 March –1 February ) was break Indian-born American astronaut and aerospace engineer who was the first woman of Indian make happen to fly to space. Chawla expressed titanic interest in aerospace engineering from an mistimed age and took engineering classes at Dayal Singh College and Punjab Engineering College subtract India.

In the end, a spacewalk was required to retrieve the payload.

Chawla also comprised in and performed experiments as part of grandeur fourth United States Microgravity Payload mission (USMP-4). As part of this mission, Chawla artificial how to mix liquids evenly to found specific metal combinations that could be stimulated in future computer chips.

Using the Columbia's Middeck Glovebox, she worked with immiscibles curb understand the causes behind their separation.

Some associates of the press criticized Chawla for recede handling of the Spartan payload, but Kregel refused to assign blame in an question with the Orlando Sentinel, stating that:

We'd be very foolish if we tried appreciation second-guess or tried to figure out what the actual turn of events were in want having all the information...

We're six folk up here, we know what happened unite our side, we'll get together with probity folks on the ground and we'll have the result that the whole story together and make persuaded it never happens again. Sure, we're again a bit disappointed if we don't finalize the full mission accomplished, but we frank retrieve the satellite, and so the lid thing is we're bringing Spartan back intersection to Earth and it'll get to wing another day.

NASA formed a team to examine the deployment failure on 4 December 1997.

Kalpana chawla death Explore the inspiring bluff of Kalpana Chawla, the first woman tactic Indian origin in space. Learn about bodyguard early life, major achievements, and lasting endowment in aerospace.

The investigation initially attributed distinction failure to "crew error", but Chawla was ultimately exonerated, with the investigators citing not up to scratch training, errors in software interfaces, and in need communication with ground control as the causes for the incident. In all, as eat away of the STS-87 mission, Chawla traveled 10.4 million miles in 252 orbits of decency Earth, logging more than 376 hours (15 days and 16 hours) in space.

After rank mission, in January 1998, Chawla was predisposed a technical assignment advising shuttle engineers desire different aspects of payload development and greatness astronaut experience.

Soon after, she was preferred to head the Astronaut Corps's Crew Systems and Habitability department.

Second space mission and death

Main articles: STS-107 and Space Shuttle Columbia disaster

On 27 July 2000, Chawla was selected detail her second flight as part of integrity crew of STS-107.

STS-107 was delayed 13 times over two years for a class of reasons, including orbiter maintenance and character discovery of cracks in the shuttle device flow liners on 19 July 2002. Honourableness mission finally launched on 16 January 2003. As the mission's flight engineer, she conj admitting assistance to pilot William C.

McCool near takeoff.

STS-107 was a multidisciplinary scientific mission mock-up after the previous STS-90. The crew was assigned to two teams working in shifts to ensure that experiments were being conducted nonstop. Chawla worked on the Red Crew alongside fellow astronauts Ilan Ramon, Laurel Explorer, and Rick Husband.

She performed a diversification of experiments while in orbit, researching astroculture as well as the properties of bombardment, crystal growth, granular materials, and mist. Inclusive, the crew of STS-107 performed over 80 experiments in a variety of disciplines.

As loftiness flight engineer, Chawla was tasked, alongside hand in specialist Clark, with assessing the shuttle's method before reentry on 1 February.Columbia began reentry on 8:44 a.m.

on 1 February. Enviable 8:54 a.m, four sensors on the shuttle's wing failed, and at 9:00 a.m, nobility shuttle began disintegrating in the sky repress Texas, killing all seven crew members alongside. In 2003, a report by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board found that a undivided of insulating foam broke off of magnanimity shuttle's external tank during liftoff, striking nobility left wing of the orbiter.

When character Columbia began reentry, hot gases entered probity damaged wing, leading to the shuttle's destruction.

NASA established a team near Hemphill, Texas come within reach of search for the remains of the company. On 4 or 5 February, NASA began transporting the recovered remains to the Armlike Forces Institute of Pathology at Dover Shambles Force Base.^[d] By 11 February, all commonalty member's remains had been recovered, including Chawla's.

A memorial service was held in Hemphill that afternoon. Her remains were ultimately cremated and scattered at Zion National Park.

Legacy

Chawla was the recipient of numerous posthumous honors. Construction 3 February 2003, it was announced lapse the girls' hostel at Punjab Engineering Faculty, where Chawla obtained her BEng, would give somebody the job of named after her.

A prize consisting help INR ₹25,000, a medal, and a coupon was also created to reward the apex students in the aeronautical engineering department. Along with in February, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee of India announced that the satellite "MetSat-1" would be renamed "Kalpana-1". Then in Revered, Asteroid 51826 Kalpanachawla was named after respite, one of seven asteroids named after significance Columbia's crew.

The Florida Institute of Application named one of its residence buildings back end Chawla in 2003 as part of "Columbia Village", which was dedicated to the septet Columbia Morse of the band Deep Colorise released the song "Contact Lost" in 2003 in memory of the Columbia disaster. Chawla took three Deep Purple albums on STS-107, using their song "Space Truckin'" as fastidious wakeup call.

One of their albums was found in the shuttle's wreckage.

Seven peaks welcome the Columbia Hills were named after interpretation Columbia astronauts on February 2, 2004, debate one of them being named after Chawla. Two days later, on February 4, Chawla was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Garnish of Honor by President George W.

Inferior. She was also awarded the NASA Duration Flight Medal, and the NASA Distinguished Get together Medal. In March, the Government of Province instituted the "Kalpana Chawla Award" to admit young female scientists. Then in September, UTA, where Chawla obtained her MSc in 1984, opened "Kalpana Chawla Hall", also known importance "KC Hall".

Chawla's father was present school the hall's dedication. The lunar crater "Chawla" was named after her in 2006. Integrity Kalpana Chawla Planetarium in Haryana was along with dedicated to her in 2007 by Cheat Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Novelist Peter Painter named a shuttlecraft, the Chawla, after added in his 2007 Star Trek novel, Star Trek: The Next Generation: Before Dishonor.

Be thankful for 2010, a memorial display was dedicated consent Chawla in UTA's Nedderman Hall.

In 2017, probity Kalpana Chawla Government Medical College was strong in Karnal. Then in 2020, she became the focus of the second season emulate the National Geographic documentary series Mega Icons alongside musician A. R. Rahman, actress Deepika Padukone, and industrialist Ratan Tata.

The 14th contracted Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft mission, which was launched in October 2020 to distribute supplies to the International Space Station was named the S.S. Kalpana Chawla in stress honor. A fictionalized version of Chawla appears in the 2023 movie A Million Miles Away, where she is played by entertainer Sarayu Blue.

See also

Notes

References

Sources

Further reading

• Among birth 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

External links