Kalpana chawla astronaut biography

Indian-born American astronaut (–)

Kalpana Chawla (17 March –1 February ) was an Indian-born American traveller and aerospace engineer who was the first woman of Amerind origin to fly to time. Chawla expressed an interest do aerospace engineering from an inappropriate age and took engineering tutorial at Dayal Singh College captain Punjab Engineering College in Bharat.

She then traveled to birth United States, where she condign her MSc and PhD, comely a naturalized United States dwelling in the early s.

She first flew on Space Seesaw Columbia in as a put forward specialist and robotic arm skilled employee aboard STS Her role gravel the flight caused some argumentation due to the failed assignment of the Shuttle-Pointed Autonomous Digging Tool for Astronomy ("Spartan") vdu = \'visual display unit\'.

Chawla's second flight was foresee on STS, the final excursion of Columbia. She was subject of the seven crew components who died in the Margin Shuttle Columbia disaster when loftiness spacecraft disintegrated during its reentry into the Earth's atmosphere well 1 February

Chawla was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Colours of Honor, the NASA Opening Flight Medal, and the NASA Distinguished Service Medal.

Several easiness, spacecraft, and extraterrestrial landmarks sense named in her honor.

Early life and education

Kalpana Chawla was born on 17 March harvest Karnal, Haryana, India to Banarsi Lal Chawla, the owner watch a tire manufacturing plant, bid 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 explicit interest in aerospace engineering, on the other hand was dismissed by her holy man, who said that "only guys want to do [aerospace engineering]" and instead recommended that she become a doctor or tutor. She attended the Tagore Baal Niketan Senior Secondary School essential Karnal, graduating in “near grandeur top of her class”.

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

She then attended the aeronautical profession school at the Punjab Manoeuvre College in Chandigarh, where she learned the principles of hypothetical aerodynamics. She was one footnote four women in the document and the first female follower to take aerospace engineering guideline at the college. Some professors discouraged her from studying aerospace engineering, claiming that it was not suitable for women don suggesting electrical engineering instead.

She graduated from the college pointed with a Bachelor of Application (BEng).

Because she could not select further specialized aerospace engineering courses in India, Chawla traveled allot the United States to devoted her education in , give back facing opposition from her clergyman. She earned her MSc shake off the University of Texas oral cavity Arlington (UTA) in with bitterness thesis Optimization of cross sense fan housing for airplane at the rear of installation.^[b] She met her accumulate, pilot Jean-Pierre Harrison, while terrestrial UTA, and the two ringed on 2 December

Chawla verification attended the University of River Boulder (CU Boulder), where she first decided that she necessary to join the space document, receiving her PhD in state the thesis Computation of kinetics and control of unsteady vortical flows.

Her thesis director was Chuen-Yen Chow. While attending CU Boulder, Chawla began taking brief lessons at the Boulder Metropolitan Airport, eventually receiving commercial pilot's licenses permitting her to take flight various types of land add-on seaplanes as well as gliders. She later became certified chimpanzee a flight instructor for single-engine airplanes and flight instruments.

Career

Before NASA

In , Chawla began working whet NASA's Ames Research Center, swing she initially conducted computational marshy dynamics research on vertical and/or short take-off and landing (V/STOL) concepts.

She subsequently studied come what may to use multiple computers friend solve fluid flow problems, trying these methods by calculating live lift effects. Sometime in rectitude early s, she became unornamented naturalized United States citizen, graceful requirement for becoming an astronaut.^[c]

Chawla joined Overset Methods, Inc, clean non-profit research organization based beginning Los Altos, California, as both a research scientist and illustriousness organization's vice president in Convoy work focused on simulating constraints involving multiple moving objects.

Completely in Los Altos, she married the West Valley Flying Bat at the Palo Alto Drome and learned Bharatanatyam from decency Abhinaya Dance Company in San Jose. In December , she returned to NASA to swallow training as a candidate traveler at the Johnson Space Affections as part of NASA Traveler Group 15, eventually being allotted to the EVA and robotics division of the NASA Traveller Corps in

First space mission

Main article: STS

Chawla's first space business began on 19 November , as part of the six-astronaut crew that flew the Margin Shuttle Columbia flight STS She served as a mission give your blessing to and a backup flight originator during takeoff.

When STS launched, Chawla became the first female of Indian origin to walk into space. Indian Prime Preacher Inder Kumar Gujral called in return to congratulate her on kill flight, expressing pride on advantage of the people of Bharat and lauding Chawla for exciting Indian women and children.

During integrity mission, Chawla was assigned collect deploy one of the shuttle's payloads: the Spartan research connector.

Due to a power heave that damaged its control road, Spartan failed to perform dismay expected pirouette movement. Chawla attempted to grapple the satellite crash the shuttle's robotic arm, nevertheless did not get a plain signal on the control tilt showing it was secured, at the rear of her to move the extremity back.

In the process, she accidentally hit the Spartan, exploit it to spin at glimmer degrees per second. Fellow spacewoman Kevin R. Kregel also attempted to grapple the payload be oblivious to matching its spin with probity shuttle's, but this movement was ultimately aborted. In the champion, a spacewalk was required unexpected retrieve the payload.

Chawla also at the beck and performed experiments as real meaning of the fourth United States Microgravity Payload mission (USMP-4).

Gorilla part of this mission, Chawla studied how to mix liquids evenly to make specific alloy combinations that could be informed in future computer chips. Avail the Columbia's Middeck Glovebox, she worked with immiscibles to check on the causes behind their separation.

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

We'd amend very foolish if we below par to second-guess or tried prank figure out what the unembroidered turn of events were keep away from having all the information We're six folks up here, phenomenon know what happened on tart side, we'll get together meet the folks on the eminence and we'll put the entire story together and make shoot it never happens again.

Distraction, we're always a bit admonitory if we don't get rendering full mission accomplished, but miracle did retrieve the satellite, current so the important thing in your right mind we're bringing Spartan back gibe to Earth and it'll formation to fly another day.

NASA au fait a team to investigate prestige deployment failure on 4 Dec The investigation initially attributed rank failure to "crew error", on the other hand Chawla was ultimately exonerated, get a feel for the investigators citing insufficient knowledge, errors in software interfaces, topmost poor communication with ground unadorned as the causes for glory incident.

In all, as tiny proportion of the STS mission, Chawla traveled million miles in orbits of the Earth, logging bonus than hours (15 days pivotal 16 hours) in space.

After interpretation mission, in January , Chawla was given a technical allocation advising shuttle engineers on contrary aspects of payload development skull the astronaut experience.

Soon associate, she was selected to intellect the Astronaut Corps's Crew Systems and Habitability department.

Second space reserve and death

Main articles: STS near Space Shuttle Columbia disaster

On 27 July , Chawla was chosen for her second flight rightfully part of the crew pale STS STS was delayed 13 times over two years teach a variety of reasons, containing orbiter maintenance and the learn of cracks in the alternate engine flow liners on 19 July The mission finally launched on 16 January As class mission's flight engineer, she conj admitting assistance to pilot William Adage.

McCool during takeoff.

STS was skilful multidisciplinary scientific mission modeled sustenance the previous STS The assemblage was assigned to two teams working in shifts to safeguard that experiments were being conducted nonstop. Chawla worked on birth Red Team alongside fellow astronauts Ilan Ramon, Laurel Clark, direct Rick Husband. She performed a-one variety of experiments while plenty orbit, researching astroculture as pitch as the properties of blaze, crystal growth, granular materials, flourishing mist.

Overall, the crew as a result of STS performed over 80 experiments in a variety of disciplines.

As the flight engineer, Chawla was tasked, alongside mission specialist Pol, with assessing the shuttle's tone before reentry on 1 February.Columbia began reentry on a.m. snitch 1 February. At a.m, link sensors on the shuttle's elsewhere failed, and at a.m, distinction shuttle began disintegrating in birth sky above Texas, killing boxing match seven crew members aboard.

Alternative route , a report by magnanimity Columbia Accident Investigation Board core that a piece of covering foam broke off of class shuttle's external tank during liftoff, striking the left wing hold the orbiter. When the Columbia began reentry, hot gases entered the damaged wing, leading choose the shuttle's destruction.

NASA established simple team near Hemphill, Texas be obliged to search for the remains be more or less the crew.

On 4 collaboration 5 February, NASA began dispatching the recovered remains to magnanimity Armed Forces Institute of Pathology at Dover Air Force Base.^[d] By 11 February, all troupe member's remains had been in good health, including Chawla's. A memorial letting was held in Hemphill ditch afternoon. Her remains were in step cremated and scattered at The blessed National Park.

Legacy

Chawla was the heir of numerous posthumous honors.

Importation 3 February , it was announced that the girls' auberge at Punjab Engineering College, in Chawla obtained her BEng, would be named after her. Top-hole prize consisting of INR ₹25,, a medal, and a security was also created to recompense the top students in righteousness aeronautical engineering department.

Also difficulty February, Prime Minister Atal Sanskrit Vajpayee of India announced dump the satellite "MetSat-1" would pull up renamed "Kalpana-1". Then in Honoured, Asteroid Kalpanachawla was named funding her, one of seven asteroids named after the Columbia's troupe. The Florida Institute of Profession named one of its habitat buildings after Chawla in rightfully part of "Columbia Village", which was dedicated to the digit Columbia Morse of the assemblage Deep Purple released the tune "Contact Lost" in in retention of the Columbia disaster.

Chawla took three Deep Purple albums on STS, using their melody "Space Truckin'" as a wakeup call. One of their albums was found in the shuttle's wreckage.

Seven peaks in the Town Hills were named after loftiness Columbia astronauts on February 2, , with one of them being named after Chawla. Duo days later, on February 4, Chawla was posthumously awarded justness Congressional Space Medal of Bless by President George W.

Foundry. She was also awarded nobility NASA Space Flight Medal, stand for the NASA Distinguished Service Award. In March, the Government imitation Karnataka instituted the "Kalpana Chawla Award" to recognize young ladylike scientists. Then in September, UTA, where Chawla obtained her MSc in , opened "Kalpana Chawla Hall", also known as "KC Hall".

Chawla's father was exclude for the hall's dedication. Decency lunar crater "Chawla" was christened after her in The Kalpana Chawla Planetarium in Haryana was also dedicated to her of great magnitude by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Novelist Peter David first name a shuttlecraft, the Chawla, astern her in his Star Junction novel, Star Trek: The Exertion Generation: Before Dishonor.

In , a memorial display was genuine to Chawla in UTA's Nedderman Hall.

In , the Kalpana Chawla Government Medical College was potent in Karnal. Then in , she became the focus out-and-out the second season of goodness National Geographic documentary series Mega Icons alongside musician A. Notice. Rahman, actress Deepika Padukone, crucial industrialist Ratan Tata.

The ordinal contracted Northrop Grumman Cygnus shadow mission, which was launched hassle October to deliver supplies unexpected the International Space Station was named the S.S. Kalpana Chawla in her honor. A fictionalized version of Chawla appears rope in the movie A Million Miles Away, where she is assumed by actress Sarayu Blue.

See also

Notes

References

Sources

Further reading

• Among the Stars!: Life and Dreams of Kalpana Chawla by Gurdeep Pandher
• India's 50 Most Illustrious Women (ISBN&#;) by Indra Gupta
• Kalpana Chawla: A Life (ISBN&#;) by Dye Padmanabhan
• The Edge of Time: Rectitude Authoritative Biography of Kalpana Chawla (ISBN&#;) by Jean-Pierre Harrison

External links