Kalpana Chawla | |
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Born | |
Died | February 1, 2003 Over Texas, U.S | (aged 40)
Cause of death | Space Shuttle Columbia disaster |
Resting place | Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington County, Virginia, U.S. |
Citizenship |
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Education | Punjab Engineering College (BEng) University of Texas, Arlington (MS) University of Colorado, Boulder (MS, PhD) |
Awards | |
Space career | |
NASA astronaut | |
Time in space | 31d 14h 54m[1] |
Selection | NASA Group 15 (1994) |
Missions | STS-87 STS-107 |
Mission insignia | ![]() ![]() |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Aerospace engineering |
Thesis | Computation of Dynamics and Control of Unsteady Vortical Flows (1988) |
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]
Chawla was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor,[7] and several streets, universities, and institutions are named in her honor.[8][9][10]
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.
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