Kalpana Chawla Bio. Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster Videos, Pictures, News

Kalpana Chawla
(Indian-American astronaut and space shuttle mission specialist.)
Nationality: USA
Status: Deceased
Born: 1 July 1961 Karnal, Haryana, India
Died: 1 February 2003 (aged 41) Over Texas
Previous occupation: Research Scientist
Space time: 31d 14h 54m
Selection: 1994 NASA Group
Missions: STS-87, STS-107Kalpana Chawla was an Indian-American astronaut and space shuttle mission specialist. She was one of seven crewmembers killed in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.

* Chawla was a vegetarian.

* On her mission, she carried a white silk banner as part of a worldwide campaign to honor teachers, as well as nearly two dozen CDs, including ones by Abida Parveen, Yehudi Menuhin, Ravi Shankar, and Deep Purple.* She enjoyed birdwatching, backpacking, hiking, flying, and reading.EDUCATION:

* Tagore Public School, Karnal for her earlier schooling.

* aeronautical engineering at Punjab Engineering College in Chandigarh, India.

* 1982 where she earned her Bachelor of Science degree. ( She was one of the three women in the college at the time. )

* Master of Science degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington (1984).

* second Master of Science degree in 1986 and a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering in 1988 from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

* Kalpana in Sanskrit means “imagination of the mind” and thus also “creation.”

* Her interest in flying was inspired by J. R. D. Tata, a pioneering Indian pilot and industrialist.

* she began working for NASA Ames Research Center as vice president of Overset Methods, Inc. where she did CFD research on V/STOL.

Awards: Posthumously awarded:

* Congressional Space Medal of Honor
* NASA Space Flight Medal
* NASA Distinguished Service Medal
* Defense Distinguished Service Medal (DDSM).

Memoria:

* Kalpana Chawla Memorial Scholarship program was instituted by Indian students association (ISA) at the [University of Texas at El Paso] [(UTEP)] in 2005 for meritorious graduate students.

* Kalpana Chawla Award award was instituted by the government of Karnataka in 2004 for young women scientists.

* NASA has dedicated a super computer to Kalpana.

Kalpana Chawla in Standard VI.