Kalpana Chawla (17 March 1962 – 1 February 2003)[2] was an Indian-born American astronaut and aerospace engineer who was the first woman of Indian origin to fly to space.[3][4] She first flew on Space Shuttle Columbia in 1997 as a mission specialist and primary robotic arm operator aboard STS-87.[5] Chawla's second flight was in 2003 on STS-107, the final flight of Columbia. She was one of the seven crew members who died in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster when the spacecraft disintegrated during its re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere on 1 February 2003.[6]
Kalpana Chawla was born on 17 March 1962 in a Punjabi Hindu family in Karnal, Haryana.[11][12] The youngest of four children, she was born into a conservative society, but Chawla broke several traditions to become the first Indian-born female astronaut. She completed her schooling at Tagore Baal Niketan Senior Secondary School, Karnal. Growing up, Chawla went to local flying clubs and watched planes with her father.[13] After graduating with a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Punjab Engineering College, India, Chawla moved to the United States in 1982. In 1984, she graduated with a Master of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington.[14] She earned a PhD in aerospace engineering in 1988 from the University of Colorado Boulder with a dissertation on the dynamics and control of vortical flows.[15][16][17]
In 1988, Chawla joined NASA's Ames Research Center, where she initially conducted computational fluid dynamics research on vertical and/or short take-off and landing (V/STOL) concepts. Much of Chawla's research is included in technical journals and conference papers. In 1993, she joined Overset Methods, Inc. as vice president and research scientist, specializing in simulation of moving multiple body problems. Chawla held an FAAFlight Instructor certificate with airplane and glider ratings, and a commercial pilot license with single and multi-engine airplane, seaplane, and glider ratings. After she became a naturalized U.S. citizen in April 1991, Chawla applied for the NASA Astronaut Corps.[18] She joined the corps in March 1995 and was selected for her first flight in 1997.
Chawla's first space mission began on 19 November 1997, as part of the six-astronaut crew that flew the Space Shuttle Columbia flight STS-87. Chawla was the first Indian-origin woman to go in space. She spoke the following words while traveling in the weightlessness of space: "You are just your intelligence." On her first mission, Chawla traveled 10.4 million miles in 252 orbits of the Earth, logging more than 376 hours (15 days and 16 hours) in space.[19][7] During STS-87, she was responsible for deploying the Spartan Satellite, which malfunctioned, necessitating a spacewalk by Winston Scott and Takao Doi to capture the satellite. A five-month NASA investigation exonerated[20] Chawla by identifying errors in software interfaces[21] and the defined procedures of the flight crew and ground control. After the completion of STS-87 post-flight activities, Chawla was assigned to technical positions in the astronaut office to work on the space station.
In 2000, Chawla 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 16 January 2003, Chawla finally returned to space aboard Space Shuttle Columbia on the ill-fated STS-107 mission. The crew performed nearly 80 experiments studying Earth and space science, advanced technology development, and astronaut health and safety.
During the launch of STS-107, Columbia's 28th mission, a piece of foam insulation broke off from the Space Shuttle's external tank and struck the port wing of the orbiter. Previous shuttle launches had seen minor damage from foam shedding,[22] but some engineers suspected that the damage to Columbia was more serious. NASA managers limited the investigation, reasoning that the crew could not have fixed the problem if it had been confirmed.[23]
When Columbiare-entered the Earth's atmosphere on 1 February 2003, the damage allowed hot atmospheric gases to penetrate and destroy the internal wing structure, which caused the spacecraft to become unstable and break apart over Texas.[24] Chawla died along with the six other crew members.[25] After the disaster, Space Shuttle flight operations were suspended for more than two years, similar to the aftermath of the Challenger disaster. Construction of the International Space Station (ISS) was put on hold; the station relied entirely on the Russian Roscosmos State Corporation for resupply for 29 months until Shuttle flights resumed with STS-114, and 45 months for crew rotation.
Chawla's remains were identified along with those of the rest of the crew members and were cremated and scattered at Zion National Park in Utah, one of her favorite places.[26]
The lunar crater Chawla is named after Kalpana Chawla.[31]
On 5 February 2003, the Prime Minister of India at the time, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, announced that a meteorological series of satellites, MetSat, was to be renamed "Kalpana 1". The first satellite of the series, "MetSat-1", launched by India on 12 September 2002, was renamed "Kalpana-1".[32]
One of Florida Institute of Technology's student apartment complexes, Columbia Village Suites, has halls named after each of the astronauts, including Chawla.
The NASA Mars Exploration Rover mission has named seven peaks in a chain of hills, named the Columbia Hills, after each of the seven astronauts lost in the Columbia shuttle disaster. One of them is Chawla Hill, named after Chawla.
Steve Morse from the band Deep Purple created the song "Contact Lost" in memory of the Columbia tragedy. Chawla knew Morse and took the band's Machine Head, featuring the song "Space Truckin'" with her on the mission. Morse's tribute song can be found on the album Bananas.[35]
Novelist Peter David named a shuttlecraft, the Chawla, after the astronaut in his 2007 Star Trek novel, Star Trek: The Next Generation: Before Dishonor.[36]
The Kalpana Chawla ISU Scholarship fund was founded by alumni of the International Space University (ISU) in 2010 to support Indian women's participation in international space education programs.[37]
The Kalpana Chawla Memorial Scholarship program was instituted by the Indian Students Association (ISA) at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) in 2005 for meritorious graduate students.[38]
The Kalpana Chawla Outstanding Recent Alumni Award at the University of Colorado, given since 1983, was renamed after Chawla.[39]
The girls' hostel (what a university dormitory is called in India) at Punjab Engineering College is named after Chawla. In addition, an award of INR twenty-five thousand, a medal, and a certificate is instituted for the best student in the Aeronautical Engineering department.[42]
On 1 April 2022, a satellite named after Chawla (ÑuSat 24 or "Kalpana", COSPAR 2022-033X) was launched into space as part of the Satellogic Aleph-1 constellation.
Chawla and her husband before the launch of STS-87
On 2 December 1983, at the age of 21, Chawla married Jean-Pierre Harrison.[16] After the Columbia disaster, Harrison was approached by filmmakers to make a movie on Chawla's life, but he refused because he preferred to keep their life private.[47]
Mega Icons (2018–2020), an Indian documentary television series on National Geographic about prominent Indian personalities, dedicated an episode to Chawla's achievements.[48] In the 2023 movie "A Million Miles Away", about Mexican farmworker turned astronaut Jose Hernandez, Kalpana Chawla is played by actress Sarayu Blue.
^Rizvi, Salim (11 December 2006). "Indo-US astronaut follows Kalpana's footsteps". BBC News. New York: BBC. Retrieved 20 November 2012. Almost four years after the death of the first American astronaut Kalpana Chawla in the Columbia space shuttle disaster, Nasa has sent another woman of Indian origin into space.
^Leinbach, Michael D.; Ward, Jonathan H. (23 January 2018). "Chapter 12: Healing and Closure". Bringing Columbia home: the untold story of a lost space shuttle and her crew. New York: Arcade Publishing. ISBN978-1-62872-852-1. A few days later a memorial service was held for Kalpana Chawla at Zion National Monument in Utah, one of her favorite places
