Profile and Life History of Kalpana Chawla

NASA Astronaut

Kalpana Chawla is a great inspiration to all the Indian women. Also she is a role model for all the youth of India. The people dream to do something great in their lives takes Chawla as their role model. She gave us a message called we shouldn’t confine ourselves within the boundaries. Kalpana always take her life as a challenge and an opportunity. So only she reached that height of achievement. 

Kalpana Chawla Birth:

On March 17, 1962, Kalpana was born. In Karnal which is in Haryana of India. Her parents were Banarasi Lal Chawla and Sanjyothi Chawla. She is the youngest of four children and her name Kalpana means imagination or idea. To attend the matriculation exam her date of birth was adjusted to July 1, 1961. She always dreamt about flying on aero planes and gliders. She asks her father to ride those planes. So his father took her on joyrides and flying club at Pushpak.

Kalpana Chawla education:

On 1976, Kalpana Chawla graduated from the high school as a top student. After that she got her BE degree in Aerospace engineering from Punjab Engineering college. Once she got her BE degree, she moved to US in 1982. On 1984, from University of Texas at Arlington she got her master degree in Aerospace engineering. On 1986 she got her second masters. From University of Colorado Boulder, he got his PhD on 1988 in Aerospace engineering.

Early Career:

Kalpana Chawla starts to work in NASA on 1988 in the Ames Research Center. She worked in an area called powered-lift computational fluid dynamics. There she did her research on simulation of complex air flows encountered around aircraft like Harrier in ground effect. Once this project was over she started the research on mapping of flow solvers parallel to super computers. On 1993, she joined Overset Methods Inc., Los Altos, California. As a vice-president she did was specializing moving multiple body problems. She is the one responsible for making effective techniques on optimization of aerodynamics. Number of her projects are documented as technical conference papers and journals.

Kalpana Chawla in NASA:

On December 1994, she was selected as an astronaut candidate in the 15th Group of Astronauts to the Johnson Space Center in March 1995. She undergone one year of training and development there. After that she was assigned as a crew member to work on the technical issues in Astronaut Office EVA/Robotics and Computer Branches. She tests the space shuttle control software shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory. Also the development of Robotic Situational Awareness displays.  On November 1966, she was assigned as the prime robotic arm operator on STS-87 and she was a mission specialist. Kalpana was selected for her second flight on 2000. She was selected as a mission specialist on STS-107. The mission was launched on 2003. And on their flight they have completed more than 80 experiments.

Kalpana Chawla achievements

1. Kalpana Chawla has logged on to space for about 30 days, 14 hours, and 54 minutes by the total of her two missions.
2. On 2004, Government of Karnataka has announced “The Kalpana Chawla award” to appreciate the young woman scientists.
3. A medical college in Karnal, Haryana is named after Kalpana Chawla as Kalpana Chawla Government Medical College (KCGMC).
4. The space cater was named by her name in Kharagpur by the Indian Institute of Technology to honor her.
5. In Jyotisar, Kurukshetra, a Planetarium was established on her name by the Government of Haryana
6. On 2003, prime minister of India announces to rename the MetSat satellite to Kalpana. And the series of MetSat as Kalpana-1 and so on.

Kalpana Chawla awards:

1. NASA has awarded him Congressional Space Medal of Honor to Kalpana Chawla.
2. Kalpana Chawla is also awarded with a space flight medal.
3. NASA has specially announced her service medal for contribution of space and science.
4. On 2010, University of Texas builds a memorial for Kalpana Chawla at Arlington College of Engineering.
5. NASA has dedicated a super computer for her.
6. On her first mission she stayed in the space for more than 372 hours by travelling over 10.5 million miles in 252 earth orbit.

Book marks of Kalpana Chawla:

On 1993, Kalpana Chawla has joined a company called Overset Methods Inc., Los Altos, California as a vice-president. Her duty was there to form a team and invent body parts with simulation as a research scientist. On 1996 she was assigned as the mission specialist and rime robotic arm operator in STS-87. On 1998, Kalpana was assigned as the crew representative for the shuttle. Additionally she was the lead in Habitability section, for Astronaut Office’s Crew Systems and station flight crew equipment.

Kalpana Chawla death – the last journey:

On Feb1, 2003, the space shuttle returned to Earth with the crew members. The shuttle was planned to land on the Kennedy space center. But the shuttle has brief case size insulation fallen off from the body. That is one of the important parts that protect the shuttle on its return journey to Earth. Without that the shuttle can’t tolerate the heat of atmosphere.

The list of crew member died:

1. Mission Specialists David M. Brown
2. Mission Specialists Laurel B. Clark
3. The first Israeli astronaut, Payload Specialist Ilan Ramon
4. Payload Commander Michael P. Anderson
5. Pilot William C. McCool
6. Commander Rick D. Husband

Less than a minute whole shuttle got depressurized and killed the crew members. The shuttle got broke up over Texas and fall over Louisiana. On his return journey in the space shuttle Columbia, Kalpana Chawla died on her space shuttle disintegrated. So she died along with her crew member. It was a great tragedy for people of India as well as America.