| Name(s) |
Kalpana Chawla |
| Date of
Birth |
July 01, 1961 - Karnal,
Haryana, India. This is the officially recorded date of her
birth; the actual date is March
17, 1962) |
| Date of
death |
February 01, 2003
- Died in Space Shuttle ‘COLUMBIA’ Crash while entering earth’s
atmosphere. |
|
Identity |
India born American
Astronaut |
|
Other Events &
Developments |
- The first Indian-born woman and
the second Indian person to fly in
space, following cosmonaut Rakesh
Sharma who flew in 1984 in a
spacecraft.
- She was the first Indian
American astronaut.
- She first flew on Space Shuttle
Columbia in 1997 as a mission
specialist and primary robotic arm
operator.
- In 2003, She was one of seven
crew members killed in the Space
Shuttle Columbia disaster.
- She completed her Bachelor of
Engineering degree in Aeronautical
Engineering at Punjab Engineering
College at Chandigarh in 1982.
- She moved to the United States
in 1982 and obtained a M.S. degree
in aerospace engineering from the
University of Texas at Arlington in
1984.
- She earned a second M.S. degree
in 1986 and a PhD in aerospace
engineering in 1988 from the
University of Colorado at Boulder.
- Thereafter she began working at
the NASA Ames Research Center. She
held a Certificated Flight
Instructor rating for airplanes,
gliders and Commercial Pilot
licenses for single and multi-engine
airplanes, seaplanes and gliders.
- She was selected for her first
space flight in 1996.
- In her first mission, she had
travelled 10.67 million km, which
amounts to as many as 252 times
around the Earth.
- 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.
|
| Awards
and Accolades |
She was posthunously awarded:
·
Congressional Space Medal of Honor,
·
NASA Space Flight Medal and
·
NASA Distinguished Service Medal.
·
51826 Kalpanachawla (2001 OB) is an
asteroid named after Indian-born astronaut, Kalpana Chawla.
|
|
Commemorations |
- The foundation stone of the Kalpana Chawla
Government Medical College was laid by the Haryana Government in her
memory in November, 2012.
- 74th Street in Jackson Heights, Queens, New
York City has been renamed 74th Street Kalpana Chawla Way in her
honour.
- The University of Texas at Arlington (where
Chawla obtained a Master of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering
in 1984) opened a dormitory named in her honor, Kalpana Chawla Hall,
in 2004.
- The Kalpana Chawla Award was instituted by the
government of Karnataka in 2004 for young women scientists.
- The Government of Haryana established the
Kalpana Chawla Planetarium in Jyotisar, Kurukshetra.
- The Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur,
named the Kalpana Chawla Space Technology Cell in her honour.
|
|
