Kalpana Chawla
Who was Kalpana Chawla?
American astronaut
Biographical data adapted from Wikipedia’s article on Kalpana Chawla (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Biography
Kalpana Chawla was born on March 17, 1962, in Karnal, Haryana, India. She went to Tagore Baal Niketan Sr. Sec. School in Karnal before studying engineering. Chawla got her bachelor's degree in aeronautical engineering from Punjab Engineering College in Chandigarh and then moved to the United States for further studies. She earned a Master of Science in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington and later got a second Master of Science and a PhD in aerospace engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder. She became a naturalized U.S. citizen in the early 1990s.
Chawla worked at NASA's Ames Research Center, where she researched computational fluid dynamics. Her work included powered-lift computational fluid dynamics and simulating complex air flows around aircraft. She joined the NASA astronaut corps in 1994 and went on her first spaceflight in 1997. She was a mission specialist and robotic arm operator on the Space Shuttle Columbia's STS-87 mission. During that mission, there was an incident with the Spartan solar research satellite, but investigations later showed it was due to software command errors, not Chawla's actions.
Her second spaceflight was in January 2003 on Columbia's STS-107 mission, where the crew conducted around 80 experiments in areas like combustion, fluid physics, and biology. On February 1, 2003, during re-entry into Earth's atmosphere, Columbia broke apart over Texas and Louisiana, and all seven crew members died. A piece of foam insulation had broken off the external tank during launch, damaging the shuttle's wing tiles. This allowed superheated gases to enter the shuttle during re-entry. Chawla died over Texas, where she had made her home.
Besides being an astronaut and aerospace engineer, Chawla was a licensed pilot with certifications for single and multi-engine land and sea planes and gliders, and she was a qualified flight instructor. She was also a certified amateur radio operator, showing her broad interest in aviation and communication technology. She was married to flight instructor Jean-Pierre Harrison.
Chawla was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor in 2004, the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, the NASA Space Flight Medal, and Ukraine's Order of Merit. She was the first woman of Indian origin to fly in space, a milestone that gained international attention and acknowledged her contributions to aerospace science and exploration.
Before Fame
Growing up in Karnal, a city in the northern Indian state of Haryana, Kalpana Chawla showed an early and persistent interest in flight and engineering. As a child, she reportedly visited the local flying club with her father and was fascinated by small aircraft. Her schooling at Tagore Baal Niketan Sr. Sec. School provided a foundation that she built on at Punjab Engineering College, where she studied aeronautical engineering at a time when few women in India pursued technical degrees at that level.
After finishing her undergraduate education, Chawla decided to move to the United States for advanced study, a choice that required both academic ability and a lot of personal drive. She steadily progressed through graduate programs at the University of Texas at Arlington and the University of Colorado Boulder, ultimately earning a doctorate. Her later research position at NASA Ames and her selection for the astronaut program in 1994 were the result of over a decade of focused academic and professional effort.
Key Achievements
- First woman of Indian origin to travel to space, flying aboard Space Shuttle Columbia in 1997 on STS-87.
- Earned a PhD in aerospace engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder and conducted research in computational fluid dynamics at NASA Ames Research Center.
- Served as mission specialist and robotic arm operator on STS-87 and as a mission specialist on the STS-107 science mission in 2003.
- Posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor (2004), NASA Distinguished Service Medal, and NASA Space Flight Medal.
- Held multiple pilot certifications across several aircraft categories and was a licensed amateur radio operator.
Did You Know?
- 01.Chawla held pilot certifications for single-engine, multi-engine, seaplane, and glider aircraft, and was also qualified as a certified flight instructor.
- 02.During STS-107, she was conducting research as part of a crew running approximately 80 scientific experiments over a 16-day mission when the disaster occurred.
- 03.The Spartan satellite deployment controversy during her first mission, STS-87 in 1997, was later attributed primarily to a software command error rather than to actions by Chawla.
- 04.She earned two separate master's degrees before her doctorate, one from the University of Texas at Arlington and one from the University of Colorado Boulder, both in aerospace engineering.
- 05.An asteroid, 51826 Kalpanachawla, discovered in 1995, was named in her honor following her death in the Columbia disaster.
Awards & Honors
| Award | Year | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Congressional Space Medal of Honor | 2004 | — |
| Order of Merit (Ukraine), 3rd class | — | — |
| NASA Space Flight Medal | — | — |
| NASA Distinguished Service Medal | 2003 | — |