Kalpana Chawla, an astronaut of Indian descent, passed away on February 1. The astronaut, who died at the age of 40, was the first person of Indian ancestry to travel to space. When the Columbia spacecraft entered the atmosphere, Kalpana and six other crew members perished. About 16 minutes before its intended landing, the space shuttle Columbia exploded above the US state of Texas.
Identification was done on the bodies of the crew members of the Kalpana. Her remains were dispersed at Utah's Zion National Park in accordance with Kalpana's desires. The following are some intriguing details regarding Kalpana:
In 1982, Kalpana landed in the USA, and it was not until 1991 that she was granted citizenship. In 1988, she commenced employment with NASA at the Ames Research Center.
Kalpana attended the Tagore Baal Niketan School in Karnal when she was a student there. On Kalpana's request, NASA asked the school to participate in the Summer Space Experience Program. Every year since 1998, two students have gone to NASA. They used to be invited to dinner parties at Kalpana's house.
Her name has been given to a number of honours and educational institutions. The Karnataka government established the Kalpana Chawla Award for promising women scientists in 2004.
She graduated from Punjab Engineering College with a Bachelor of Engineering in Aeronautical Engineering. Kalpana continued on to get two master's degrees after this. She graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder with a PhD in aerospace engineering in 1986.
In 1983, Kalpana wed Jean-Pierre Harriso. Twenty years of marriage were spent together before Kalpana's passing in 2003.
Kalpana's second space trip took place in 2003. Her first space mission began on November 19, 1997, before that. In 252 earth orbits, she covered a distance of 10.4 million miles. She was in space for 15 days and 12 hours.
When Kalpana went on her maiden space trip aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia during mission STS-87, she spoke with and showed images of the Himalaya to the then-Indian Prime Minister, Inder Kumar Gujral.
