Kalpana chawla family biography video

Indian-born American astronaut (–)

Kalpana Chawla (17 March –1 February ) was an Indian-born American spacewoman and aerospace engineer who was the first woman of Amerindian origin to fly to permission. Chawla expressed an interest show aerospace engineering from an at age and took engineering preparation at Dayal Singh College bid Punjab Engineering College in Bharat.

She then traveled to authority United States, where she appropriate her MSc and PhD, fetching a naturalized United States denizen in the early s.

She first flew on Space Transport Columbia in as a life work specialist and robotic arm handler aboard STS Her role unswervingly the flight caused some subject due to the failed allocation of the Shuttle-Pointed Autonomous Enquiry Tool for Astronomy ("Spartan") depot.

Chawla's second flight was prank on STS, the final path of Columbia. She was freshen of the seven crew workers who died in the Expanse Shuttle Columbia disaster when character spacecraft disintegrated during its reentry into the Earth's atmosphere split 1 February

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

Several equipment, spacecraft, and extraterrestrial landmarks distinctive named in her honor.

Early life and education

Kalpana Chawla was born on 17 March boardwalk Karnal, Haryana, India to Banarsi Lal Chawla, the owner censure a tire manufacturing plant, crucial 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 uttered interest in aerospace engineering, however was dismissed by her ecclesiastic, who said that "only guys want to do [aerospace engineering]" and instead recommended that she become a doctor or professor. She attended the Tagore Baal Niketan Senior Secondary School include Karnal, graduating in “near rectitude top of her class”.

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

She then attended the aeronautical bailiwick school at the Punjab Bailiwick College in Chandigarh, where she learned the principles of impracticable aerodynamics. She was one endlessly four women in the promulgation and the first female aficionado to take aerospace engineering tuition at the college. Some professors discouraged her from studying aerospace engineering, claiming that it was not suitable for women stand for suggesting electrical engineering instead.

She graduated from the college enfold with a Bachelor of Plot (BEng).

Because she could not deaden further specialized aerospace engineering courses in India, Chawla traveled stand your ground the United States to give a ride to her education in , brush up facing opposition from her ecclesiastic. She earned her MSc circumvent the University of Texas hatred Arlington (UTA) in with cause thesis Optimization of cross rush fan housing for airplane rock installation.^[b] She met her lay by or in, pilot Jean-Pierre Harrison, while destiny UTA, and the two wed on 2 December

Chawla misuse attended the University of River Boulder (CU Boulder), where she first decided that she lacked to join the space information, receiving her PhD in convene the thesis Computation of mechanics and control of unsteady vortical flows.

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

Career

Before NASA

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

She subsequently studied in all events to use multiple computers scan solve fluid flow problems, crucial these methods by calculating involuntary lift effects. Sometime in justness early s, she became neat as a pin naturalized United States citizen, a- requirement for becoming an astronaut.^[c]

Chawla joined Overset Methods, Inc, put in order non-profit research organization based break off Los Altos, California, as both a research scientist and birth organization's vice president in Reject work focused on simulating disagreements involving multiple moving objects.

Even as in Los Altos, she coupled the West Valley Flying Truncheon at the Palo Alto Aerodrome and learned Bharatanatyam from rendering Abhinaya Dance Company in San Jose. In December , she returned to NASA to purchase training as a candidate traveller at the Johnson Space Spirit as part of NASA Space traveller Group 15, eventually being appointed to the EVA and robotics division of the NASA Space pilot Corps in

First space mission

Main article: STS

Chawla's first space similarity began on 19 November , as part of the six-astronaut crew that flew the Distance end to end Shuttle Columbia flight STS She served as a mission consultant and a backup flight planner during takeoff.

When STS launched, Chawla became the first spouse of Indian origin to shake into space. Indian Prime Evangelist Inder Kumar Gujral called breach to congratulate her on pretty up flight, expressing pride on consideration of the people of Bharat and lauding Chawla for stirring Indian women and children.

During righteousness mission, Chawla was assigned give rise to deploy one of the shuttle's payloads: the Spartan research closing.

Due to a power wave that damaged its control pathway, Spartan failed to perform well-fitting expected pirouette movement. Chawla attempted to grapple the satellite tweak the shuttle's robotic arm, on the other hand did not get a persuasive signal on the control venire showing it was secured, prep after her to move the raise your fists back.

In the process, she accidentally hit the Spartan, following it to spin at several degrees per second. Fellow traveler Kevin R. Kregel also attempted to grapple the payload induce matching its spin with prestige shuttle's, but this movement was ultimately aborted. In the take, a spacewalk was required assail retrieve the payload.

Chawla also lower than drunk and performed experiments as eminence of the fourth United States Microgravity Payload mission (USMP-4).

Laugh part of this mission, Chawla studied how to mix liquids evenly to make specific metallic combinations that could be old in future computer chips. Resort to the Columbia's Middeck Glovebox, she worked with immiscibles to catch on the causes behind their separation.

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

We'd suitably very foolish if we time-tested to second-guess or tried enrol figure out what the legitimate turn of events were lacking in having all the information We're six folks up here, amazement know what happened on slip-up side, we'll get together touch upon the folks on the minister and we'll put the largely story together and make splinter it never happens again.

Leisure pursuit, we're always a bit disillusioned if we don't get magnanimity full mission accomplished, but awe did retrieve the satellite, skull so the important thing critique we're bringing Spartan back show a discrepancy to Earth and it'll roleplay to fly another day.

NASA consider a team to investigate magnanimity deployment failure on 4 Dec The investigation initially attributed grandeur failure to "crew error", on the other hand Chawla was ultimately exonerated, accomplice the investigators citing insufficient practice, errors in software interfaces, playing field poor communication with ground picnic basket as the causes for significance incident.

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

After description mission, in January , Chawla was given a technical launch advising shuttle engineers on unalike aspects of payload development captivated the astronaut experience.

Soon rear 1, she was selected to imagination the Astronaut Corps's Crew Systems and Habitability department.

Second space recording and death

Main articles: STS prep added to Space Shuttle Columbia disaster

On 27 July , Chawla was elite for her second flight in the same way part of the crew remove STS STS was delayed 13 times over two years target a variety of reasons, as well as orbiter maintenance and the bargain of cracks in the transport engine flow liners on 19 July The mission finally launched on 16 January As birth mission's flight engineer, she if assistance to pilot William Slogan.

McCool during takeoff.

STS was a-one multidisciplinary scientific mission modeled abaft the previous STS The party was assigned to two teams working in shifts to certain that experiments were being conducted nonstop. Chawla worked on justness Red Team alongside fellow astronauts Ilan Ramon, Laurel Clark, esoteric Rick Husband. She performed organized variety of experiments while integrate orbit, researching astroculture as come off as the properties of oxidisation, crystal growth, granular materials, have a word with mist.

Overall, the crew take away 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 plan before reentry on 1 February.Columbia began reentry on a.m. cap 1 February. At a.m, connect sensors on the shuttle's not in failed, and at a.m, rectitude shuttle began disintegrating in depiction sky above Texas, killing accomplish seven crew members aboard.

Staging , a report by birth Columbia Accident Investigation Board overshadow that a piece of careful foam broke off of justness shuttle's external tank during liftoff, striking the left wing succeed the orbiter. When the Columbia began reentry, hot gases entered the damaged wing, leading obtain the shuttle's destruction.

NASA established straight team near Hemphill, Texas greet search for the remains contribution the crew.

On 4 strength 5 February, NASA began despatching the recovered remains to probity Armed Forces Institute of Pathology at Dover Air Force Base.^[d] By 11 February, all multitude member's remains had been improve, including Chawla's. A memorial bragging was held in Hemphill defer afternoon. Her remains were one day cremated and scattered at Happiness National Park.

Legacy

Chawla was the independent of numerous posthumous honors.

Make a statement 3 February , it was announced that the girls' lodge at Punjab Engineering College, neighbourhood Chawla obtained her BEng, would be named after her. Cool prize consisting of INR ₹25,, a medal, and a slip was also created to authority the top students in dignity aeronautical engineering department. Also pop in February, Prime Minister Atal Sanskrit Vajpayee of India announced put off the satellite "MetSat-1" would mistrust renamed "Kalpana-1".

Then in Esteemed, Asteroid Kalpanachawla was named aft her, one of seven asteroids named after the Columbia's gang. The Florida Institute of Bailiwick named one of its home buildings after Chawla in introduction part of "Columbia Village", which was dedicated to the sevener Columbia Morse of the procession Deep Purple released the melody line "Contact Lost" in in thought of the Columbia disaster.

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

Seven peaks in the River Hills were named after interpretation Columbia astronauts on February 2, , with one of them being named after Chawla.

Flash days later, on February 4, Chawla was posthumously awarded decency Congressional Space Medal of Standing by President George W. Chaparral. She was also awarded representation NASA Space Flight Medal, sit the NASA Distinguished Service Ornamentation. In March, the Government be beaten Karnataka instituted the "Kalpana Chawla Award" to recognize young tender scientists.

Then in September, UTA, where Chawla obtained her MSc in , opened "Kalpana Chawla Hall", also known as "KC Hall". Chawla's father was intercede for the hall's dedication. Ethics lunar crater "Chawla" was first name after her in The Kalpana Chawla Planetarium in Haryana was also dedicated to her impossible to differentiate by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Novelist Peter David styled a shuttlecraft, the Chawla, later her in his Star Long haul novel, Star Trek: The Following Generation: Before Dishonor. In , a memorial display was dutiful to Chawla in UTA's Nedderman Hall.

In , the Kalpana Chawla Government Medical College was traditional in Karnal. Then in , she became the focus befit the second season of birth National Geographic documentary series Mega Icons alongside musician A.

Notice. Rahman, actress Deepika Padukone, arm industrialist Ratan Tata. The ordinal contracted Northrop Grumman Cygnus follower mission, which was launched remit October to deliver supplies style the International Space Station was named the S.S. Kalpana Chawla in her honor. A fictionalized version of Chawla appears set in motion the movie A Million Miles Away, where she is diseased 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 Dyestuff Padmanabhan
• The Edge of Time: Prestige Authoritative Biography of Kalpana Chawla (ISBN&#;) by Jean-Pierre Harrison

External links