Kalpana Chawla Indian-American astronaut

Education

Chawla's last visit to India was during the 1991 - 1992 new year holiday when she and
her husband spent time with her family. For various reasons, Chawla was never able
to follow up on invitations to visit India after she became an astronaut.



Kalpana Chawla studied at Tagore Public School, Karnal for her earlier schooling
and she pursued further studies aeronautical engineering at Punjab Engineering
College in Chandigarh, India, in 1982 where she earned her Bachelor of Science
degree. She was one of the three women in the college at the time. She moved
to the United States in 1982 and obtained a Master of Science degree in aero-
space engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington (1984). Chawla
earned a second Master of Science degree in mechanical engineering in 1986
and a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering in 1988 from the University of Colorado
at Boulder. Later that year she began working for NASA Ames Research
Center.Chawla held a Certificated Flight Instructor rating for airplanes,
gliders and Commercial Pilot licenses for single and multiengine air-
planes, seaplanes and gliders. She held an FCC issued Technician
Class Amateur Radio license with the call sign KD5ESI. Kalpana
Chawla married Jean-Pierre Harrison in 1983 and became
a naturalized United States citizen in 1990.



Nasa Career

Chawla joined the NASA astronaut corps in March 1995 and was selected for her first
flight in 1998 Her first space mission began on November 19,1997 as part of the six
astronaut crew that flew the Space Shuttle Columbia flight STS-87. Chawla was the
first Indian-born woman and the second person of Indian origin to fly in space,
following cosmonaut Rakesh Sharma who flew in 1984 in a Soviet spacecraft. It
must be noted that while Rakesh Sharma represented India, Chawla was an
American astronaut who represented the United States. Sharma and Chawla
never met despite their common interests. On her first mission Chawla
traveled over 10.4 million miles in 252 orbits of the earth, logging more
than 360 hours in space. During STS-87, she was responsible for
deploying the Spartan Satellite which malfunctioned, necessi-
tating a spacewalk by Winston Scott and Takao Doi to capture
the satellite. A five-month NASA investigation fully
exonerated Chawla by identifing 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, her performance in which was recognized with a
special award from her peers.

In 2000 she 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 Columbia on the
ill-fated STS-107 mission. Chawla's responsibilities included the SPACEHAB/
FREESTAR microgravity experiments, for which the crew conducted nearly
80 experiments studying earth and space science, advanced technology
development, and astronaut health and safety.

Hi Di

Gr8 Job....

We are proud of you Kalpana chawla...Being a Indian you Have taken our nation to such a height that no one can do in there carrier...Hat's Off to our beloved Kalpana Chawlaa May God Always Bless you Peace on you Always to your soul And All of our citizen pray for your Soul....You have Maken Our National Flag High On the Top Of the World....

Salman My Sweet Di Nancy Bro

great my sweet didi..
we are really proud of kalpana chawala