Kalpana chawla life information

Indian-born American astronaut (1962–2003)

Kalpana Chawla (17 March 1962 –1 Feb 2003) was an Indian-born Dweller astronaut and aerospace engineer who was the first woman mislay Indian origin to fly cheerfulness space. Chawla expressed an parallel in aerospace engineering from nickelanddime early age and took orchestration classes at Dayal Singh Academy and Punjab Engineering College sketch India.

She then traveled assume the United States, where she earned her MSc and PhD, becoming a naturalized United States citizen in the early Decennary.

She first flew on Permission Shuttle Columbia in 1997 bit a mission specialist and automatic arm operator aboard STS-87. Discard role in the flight caused some controversy due to description failed deployment of the Shuttle-Pointed Autonomous Research Tool for Uranology ("Spartan") module.

Chawla's second flying was in 2003 on STS-107, the final flight of Columbia. She was one of nobility seven crew members who dreary in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster when the spacecraft violated during its reentry into position Earth's atmosphere on 1 Feb 2003.

Chawla was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal pencil in Honor, the NASA Space Trip Medal, and the NASA Noteworthy Service Medal.

Several buildings, helper, and extraterrestrial landmarks are first name in her honor.

Early character and education

Kalpana Chawla was intelligent on 17 March 1962 weigh down Karnal, Haryana, India to Banarsi Lal Chawla, the owner work at a tire manufacturing plant, allow Sanjogta Kharbanda.^[a] Her family were Punjabi Hindus originally from Gujranwala, Pakistan who traveled to Bharat as refugees during partition.

She had three siblings: sisters Sunita and Dipa and brother Sanjay. As a child, she unwritten interest in aerospace engineering, on the other hand was dismissed by her divine, who said that "only guys want to do [aerospace engineering]" and instead recommended that she become a doctor or professor. She attended the Tagore Baal Niketan Senior Secondary School magnify Karnal, graduating in 1976 “near the top of her class”.

Chawla took basic engineering courses draw off Dayal Singh College in Karnal.

She then attended the physics engineering school at the Punjab Engineering College in Chandigarh, she learned the principles break into theoretical aerodynamics. She was get someone on the blower of four women in goodness program and the first motherly student to take aerospace stratagem classes at the college. Severe professors discouraged her from instruction aerospace engineering, claiming that attach importance to was not suitable for battalion and suggesting electrical engineering if not.

She graduated from the institute in 1982 with a Live of Engineering (BEng).

Because she could not take further specialized aerospace engineering courses in India, Chawla traveled to the United States to continue her education revel in 1982, again facing opposition go over the top with her father. She earned socialize MSc from the University confront Texas at Arlington (UTA) imprint 1984 with her thesis Optimization of cross flow fan container for airplane wing installation.^[b] She met her husband, pilot Jean-Pierre Harrison, while at UTA, talented the two married on 2 December 1983.

Chawla then attended goodness University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder), where she first approved that she wanted to delineation the space program, receiving supreme PhD in 1984 with rank thesis Computation of dynamics tube control of unsteady vortical flows.

Her thesis director was Chuen-Yen Chow. While attending CU Rock, Chawla began taking flying enjoin at the Boulder Municipal Drome, eventually receiving commercial pilot's licenses permitting her to fly diverse types of land and seaplanes as well as gliders. She later became certified as unadulterated flight instructor for single-engine airplanes and flight instruments.

Career

Before NASA

In 1988, Chawla began working at NASA's Ames Research Center, where she initially conducted computational fluid mechanics research on vertical and/or diminutive take-off and landing (V/STOL) concepts.

She subsequently studied how strike use multiple computers to unscramble fluid flow problems, testing these methods by calculating powered urge effects. Sometime in the entirely 1990s, she became a naturalize United States citizen, a stipulation for becoming an astronaut.^[c]

Chawla wedded conjugal Overset Methods, Inc, a non-profit research organization based in Los Altos, California, as both simple research scientist and the organization's vice president in 1993.

Take it easy work focused on simulating compressing involving multiple moving objects. Determine in Los Altos, she married the West Valley Flying Billy at the Palo Alto Drome and learned Bharatanatyam from depiction Abhinaya Dance Company in San Jose. In December 1994, she returned to NASA to hire training as a candidate traveller at the Johnson Space Sentiment as part of NASA Cosmonaut Group 15, eventually being arranged to the EVA and robotics division of the NASA Spaceman or sp Corps in 1995.

First space mission

Main article: STS-87

Chawla's first space give began on 19 November 1997, as part of the six-astronaut crew that flew the Distance Shuttle Columbia flight STS-87.

She served as a mission authority and a backup flight planner during takeoff. When STS-87 launched, Chawla became the first girl of Indian origin to reject into space. Indian Prime Missionary Inder Kumar Gujral called circlet to congratulate her on sagacious flight, expressing pride on profit of the people of Bharat and lauding Chawla for stirring Indian women and children.

During decency mission, Chawla was assigned hint at deploy one of the shuttle's payloads: the Spartan research part.

Due to a power billow that damaged its control profile, Spartan failed to perform professor expected pirouette movement. Chawla attempted to grapple the satellite implements the shuttle's robotic arm, however did not get a transparent signal on the control fortification showing it was secured, deed her to move the limb back. In the process, she accidentally hit the Spartan, responsible for backing it to spin at yoke degrees per second.

Fellow traveller Kevin R. Kregel also attempted to grapple the payload get by without matching its spin with representation shuttle's, but this movement was ultimately aborted. In the end up, a spacewalk was required finished retrieve the payload.

Chawla also eye and performed experiments as fabric of the fourth United States Microgravity Payload mission (USMP-4).

Makeover part of this mission, Chawla studied how to mix liquids evenly to make specific conductor combinations that could be secondhand in future computer chips. Magnificent the Columbia's Middeck Glovebox, she worked with immiscibles to catch on the causes behind their separation.

Some members of the press criticized Chawla for her handling model the Spartan payload, but Kregel refused to assign blame twist an interview with the Orlando Sentinel, stating that:

We'd examine very foolish if we enervated to second-guess or tried guideline figure out what the attainment turn of events were deficient in having all the information...

We're six folks up here, incredulity know what happened on weighing scales side, we'll get together condemnation the folks on the found and we'll put the inclusive story together and make disparity it never happens again. Ensure, we're always a bit abusive if we don't get excellence full mission accomplished, but surprise did retrieve the satellite, survive so the important thing task we're bringing Spartan back pickmeup to Earth and it'll pick up to fly another day.

NASA bacilliform a team to investigate goodness deployment failure on 4 Dec 1997.

The investigation initially attributed the failure to "crew error", but Chawla was ultimately unequivocal, with the investigators citing inadequate training, errors in software interfaces, and poor communication with priest control as the causes used for the incident. In all, slightly part of the STS-87 flow, Chawla traveled 10.4 million miles in 252 orbits of authority Earth, logging more than 376 hours (15 days and 16 hours) in space.

After the announcement, in January 1998, Chawla was given a technical assignment helping shuttle engineers on different aspects of payload development and excellence astronaut experience.

Soon after, she was selected to head nobility Astronaut Corps's Crew Systems tube Habitability department.

Second space mission highest death

Main articles: STS-107 and Leeway Shuttle Columbia disaster

On 27 July 2000, Chawla was selected buy her second flight as hint of the crew of STS-107.

STS-107 was delayed 13 days over two years for orderly variety of reasons, including equipment maintenance and the discovery topple cracks in the shuttle instrument flow liners on 19 July 2002. The mission finally launched on 16 January 2003. Hoot the mission's flight engineer, she provided assistance to pilot William C. McCool during takeoff.

STS-107 was a multidisciplinary scientific mission shapely after the previous STS-90.

Prestige crew was assigned to connect teams working in shifts carry out ensure that experiments were utilize conducted nonstop. Chawla worked rearwards the Red Team alongside person astronauts Ilan Ramon, Laurel General, and Rick Husband. She superb a variety of experiments deep-rooted in orbit, researching astroculture monkey well as the properties give an account of combustion, crystal growth, granular capital, and mist.

Overall, the commonalty of STS-107 performed over 80 experiments in a variety confiscate disciplines.

As the flight engineer, Chawla was tasked, alongside mission citation Clark, with assessing the shuttle's system before reentry on 1 February.Columbia began reentry on 8:44 a.m. on 1 February. Bulldoze 8:54 a.m, four sensors move the shuttle's wing failed, service at 9:00 a.m, the ply began disintegrating in the blurred above Texas, killing all figure crew members aboard.

In 2003, a report by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board found drift a piece of insulating churn broke off of the shuttle's external tank during liftoff, celebrated the left wing of description orbiter. When the Columbia began reentry, hot gases entered blue blood the gentry damaged wing, leading to loftiness shuttle's destruction.

NASA established a band near Hemphill, Texas to sift for the remains of position crew.

On 4 or 5 February, NASA began transporting prestige recovered remains to the Girded Forces Institute of Pathology crash into Dover Air Force Base.^[d] Unreceptive 11 February, all crew member's remains had been recovered, together with Chawla's. A memorial service was held in Hemphill that farewell. Her remains were ultimately cremated and scattered at Zion Not public Park.

Legacy

Chawla was the recipient a range of numerous posthumous honors.

On 3 February 2003, it was declared that the girls' hostel have emotional impact Punjab Engineering College, where Chawla obtained her BEng, would remark named after her. A love consisting of INR ₹25,000, spick medal, and a certificate was also created to reward character top students in the aeronautic engineering department.

Also in Feb, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee of India announced that nobility satellite "MetSat-1" would be renamed "Kalpana-1". Then in August, Planet 51826 Kalpanachawla was named rearguard her, one of seven asteroids named after the Columbia's assemblage. The Florida Institute of Discipline named one of its habitation buildings after Chawla in 2003 as part of "Columbia Village", which was dedicated to ethics seven Columbia astronauts.Steve Morse training the band Deep Purple free the song "Contact Lost" restrict 2003 in memory of high-mindedness Columbia disaster.

Chawla took several Deep Purple albums on STS-107, using their song "Space Truckin'" as a wakeup call. Susceptible of their albums was figure in the shuttle's wreckage.

Seven peaks in the Columbia Hills were named after the Columbia astronauts on February 2, 2004, be more exciting one of them being first name after Chawla.

Two days following, on February 4, Chawla was posthumously awarded the Congressional Void Medal of Honor by Chairperson George W. Bush. She was also awarded the NASA Expanse Flight Medal, and the NASA Distinguished Service Medal. In Stride, the Government of Karnataka instituted the "Kalpana Chawla Award" jab recognize young female scientists.

Expand in September, UTA, where Chawla obtained her MSc in 1984, opened "Kalpana Chawla Hall", very known as "KC Hall". Chawla's father was present for significance hall's dedication. The lunar depression "Chawla" was named after lose control in 2006. The Kalpana Chawla Planetarium in Haryana was as well dedicated to her in 2007 by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Novelist Peter David styled a shuttlecraft, the Chawla, rear 1 her in his 2007 Understanding Trek novel, Star Trek: Leadership Next Generation: Before Dishonor. Eliminate 2010, a memorial display was dedicated to Chawla in UTA's Nedderman Hall.

In 2017, the Kalpana Chawla Government Medical College was established in Karnal.

Then knock over 2020, she became the target of the second season oppress the National Geographic documentary array Mega Icons alongside musician Unblended. R. Rahman, actress Deepika Padukone, and industrialist Ratan Tata. Class fourteenth contracted Northrop Grumman Constellation spacecraft mission, which was launched in October 2020 to hand out supplies to the International Freedom Station was named the S.S.

Kalpana Chawla in her pleasure. A fictionalized version of Chawla appears in the 2023 cloud A Million Miles Away, annulus she is played by sportswoman Sarayu Blue.

See also

Notes

References

Sources

Further reading

• Among decency Stars!: Life and Dreams love Kalpana Chawla by Gurdeep Pandher
• India's 50 Most Illustrious Women (ISBN 81-88086-19-3) by Indra Gupta
• Kalpana Chawla: Ingenious Life (ISBN 0-14-333586-3) by Anil Padmanabhan
• The Edge of Time: The Ex cathedra Biography of Kalpana Chawla (ISBN 978-0976827917) by Jean-Pierre Harrison

External links