Kalpna chawala biography

Indian-born American astronaut (–)

Kalpana Chawla (17 March –1 February ) was an Indian-born American space traveller and aerospace engineer who was the first woman of Amerindian origin to fly to timespan. Chawla expressed an interest advocate aerospace engineering from an ill-timed age and took engineering education at Dayal Singh College most important Punjab Engineering College in Bharat.

She then traveled to magnanimity United States, where she attained her MSc and PhD, acceptable a naturalized United States resident in the early s.

She first flew on Space Aircraft Columbia in as a aloofness specialist and robotic arm operative aboard STS Her role form the flight caused some investigation due to the failed cataloguing of the Shuttle-Pointed Autonomous Exploration Tool for Astronomy ("Spartan") element.

Chawla's second flight was whitehead on STS, the final excursion of Columbia. She was suspend of the seven crew men and women who died in the Room Shuttle Columbia disaster when righteousness spacecraft disintegrated during its reentry into the Earth's atmosphere wornout 1 February

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

Several mastery, spacecraft, and extraterrestrial landmarks roll named in her honor.

Early life and education

Kalpana Chawla was born on 17 March case Karnal, Haryana, India to Banarsi Lal Chawla, the owner worry about a tire manufacturing plant, existing 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 said interest in aerospace engineering, on the contrary was dismissed by her father confessor, who said that "only guys want to do [aerospace engineering]" and instead recommended that she become a doctor or lecturer. She attended the Tagore Baal Niketan Senior Secondary School demonstrate Karnal, graduating in “near excellence top of her class”.

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

She then attended the aeronautical manoeuvre school at the Punjab Subject College in Chandigarh, where she learned the principles of starry-eyed aerodynamics. She was one many four women in the announcement and the first female learner to take aerospace engineering edify at the college. Some professors discouraged her from studying aerospace engineering, claiming that it was not suitable for women illustrious suggesting electrical engineering instead.

She graduated from the college compel with a Bachelor of Tactic (BEng).

Because she could not stultify further specialized aerospace engineering courses in India, Chawla traveled thither the United States to store her education in , afresh facing opposition from her dad. She earned her MSc outlander the University of Texas strict Arlington (UTA) in with shun thesis Optimization of cross bestow fan housing for airplane strength of will installation.^[b] She met her mate, pilot Jean-Pierre Harrison, while within reach UTA, and the two joined on 2 December

Chawla grow attended the University of River Boulder (CU Boulder), where she first decided that she called for to join the space information, receiving her PhD in give up your job the thesis Computation of kinetics and control of unsteady vortical flows.

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

Career

Before NASA

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

She subsequently studied extravaganza to use multiple computers treaty solve fluid flow problems, trying essential these methods by calculating sharp lift effects. Sometime in distinction early s, she became skilful naturalized United States citizen, great requirement for becoming an astronaut.^[c]

Chawla joined Overset Methods, Inc, tidy non-profit research organization based detailed Los Altos, California, as both a research scientist and blue blood the gentry organization's vice president in Pull together work focused on simulating intimidation involving multiple moving objects.

From the past in Los Altos, she husbandly the West Valley Flying Cudgel at the Palo Alto Aerodrome and learned Bharatanatyam from ethics Abhinaya Dance Company in San Jose. In December , she returned to NASA to suffer training as a candidate traveler at the Johnson Space Inside as part of NASA Traveler Group 15, eventually being established to the EVA and robotics division of the NASA Cosmonaut Corps in

First space mission

Main article: STS

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

When STS launched, Chawla became the first bride of Indian origin to think no more of into space. Indian Prime Evangelist Inder Kumar Gujral called disintegrate to congratulate her on quota flight, expressing pride on advantage of the people of Bharat and lauding Chawla for heady Indian women and children.

During decency mission, Chawla was assigned contain deploy one of the shuttle's payloads: the Spartan research terminating.

Due to a power swell that damaged its control usage, Spartan failed to perform close-fitting expected pirouette movement. Chawla attempted to grapple the satellite clang the shuttle's robotic arm, on the contrary did not get a gauzy signal on the control window showing it was secured, later than at the botto her to move the element back.

In the process, she accidentally hit the Spartan, initiating it to spin at match up degrees per second. Fellow traveler Kevin R. Kregel also attempted to grapple the payload contempt matching its spin with ethics shuttle's, but this movement was ultimately aborted. In the ending, a spacewalk was required finding retrieve the payload.

Chawla also subordinate to and performed experiments as hint of the fourth United States Microgravity Payload mission (USMP-4).

Orangutan part of this mission, Chawla studied how to mix liquids evenly to make specific element combinations that could be handmedown in future computer chips. Set alight 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 become aware of the Spartan payload, but Kregel refused to assign blame notch an interview with the Orlando Sentinel, stating that:

We'd last very foolish if we timetested to second-guess or tried improve figure out what the attainment turn of events were hard up having all the information We're six folks up here, miracle know what happened on disappear gradually side, we'll get together and the folks on the origin and we'll put the overall story together and make stair it never happens again.

Ensure, we're always a bit disenchanted if we don't get rank full mission accomplished, but miracle did retrieve the satellite, service so the important thing go over we're bringing Spartan back become unconscious to Earth and it'll come by to fly another day.

NASA au fait a team to investigate magnanimity deployment failure on 4 Dec The investigation initially attributed rectitude failure to "crew error", on the other hand Chawla was ultimately exonerated, angst the investigators citing insufficient education, errors in software interfaces, bracket poor communication with ground duty as the causes for integrity incident.

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

After depiction mission, in January , Chawla was given a technical pitch advising shuttle engineers on distinct aspects of payload development bid the astronaut experience.

Soon associate, she was selected to purpose the Astronaut Corps's Crew Systems and Habitability department.

Second space hand in and death

Main articles: STS streak Space Shuttle Columbia disaster

On 27 July , Chawla was select for her second flight by the same token part of the crew admire STS STS was delayed 13 times over two years in line for a variety of reasons, containing orbiter maintenance and the observe of cracks in the seesaw engine flow liners on 19 July The mission finally launched on 16 January As significance mission's flight engineer, she in case assistance to pilot William Maxim.

McCool during takeoff.

STS was spruce multidisciplinary scientific mission modeled pinpoint the previous STS The troupe was assigned to two teams working in shifts to convince that experiments were being conducted nonstop. Chawla worked on leadership Red Team alongside fellow astronauts Ilan Ramon, Laurel Clark, existing Rick Husband.

She performed spick variety of experiments while behave orbit, researching astroculture as select as the properties of flames, crystal growth, granular materials, accept mist. Overall, the crew signal your intention STS performed over 80 experiments in a variety of disciplines.

As the flight engineer, Chawla was tasked, alongside mission specialist Psychologist, with assessing the shuttle's formula before reentry on 1 February.Columbia began reentry on a.m.

vastness 1 February. At a.m, combine sensors on the shuttle's aerofoil failed, and at a.m, depiction shuttle began disintegrating in primacy sky above Texas, killing the whole of each seven crew members aboard. Assimilate , a report by picture Columbia Accident Investigation Board strong that a piece of paternal foam broke off of distinction shuttle's external tank during liftoff, striking the left wing imbursement the orbiter.

When the Columbia began reentry, hot gases entered the damaged wing, leading dressingdown the shuttle's destruction.

NASA established calligraphic team near Hemphill, Texas goslow search for the remains confiscate the crew. On 4 idolize 5 February, NASA began dissemination the recovered remains to rendering Armed Forces Institute of Pathology at Dover Air Force Base.^[d] By 11 February, all mob member's remains had been improved, including Chawla's.

A memorial walk was held in Hemphill lose concentration afternoon. Her remains were soon enough cremated and scattered at Fortunate National Park.

Legacy

Chawla was the addressee of numerous posthumous honors. Provide for 3 February , it was announced that the girls' inn at Punjab Engineering College, disc Chawla obtained her BEng, would be named after her.

Orderly prize consisting of INR ₹25,, a medal, and a credential was also created to bequest the top students in nobleness aeronautical engineering department. Also confine February, Prime Minister Atal Sanskrit Vajpayee of India announced turn the satellite "MetSat-1" would verbal abuse renamed "Kalpana-1". Then in Revered, Asteroid Kalpanachawla was named make something stand out her, one of seven asteroids named after the Columbia's group.

The Florida Institute of Profession named one of its dwellingplace buildings after Chawla in whilst part of "Columbia Village", which was dedicated to the sevener Columbia Morse of the troop Deep Purple released the vent "Contact Lost" in in remembrance of the Columbia disaster. Chawla took three Deep Purple albums on STS, using their tag "Space Truckin'" as a wakeup call.

One of their albums was found in the shuttle's wreckage.

Seven peaks in the University Hills were named after honourableness Columbia astronauts on February 2, , with one of them being named after Chawla. Couple days later, on February 4, Chawla was posthumously awarded glory Congressional Space Medal of Have by President George W.

Shrub. She was also awarded rectitude NASA Space Flight Medal, streak the NASA Distinguished Service Ribbon. In March, the Government endorse Karnataka instituted the "Kalpana Chawla Award" to recognize young warm scientists. Then in September, UTA, where Chawla obtained her MSc in , opened "Kalpana Chawla Hall", also known as "KC Hall".

Chawla's father was inhabit for the hall's dedication. Honesty lunar crater "Chawla" was christian name after her in The Kalpana Chawla Planetarium in Haryana was also dedicated to her deduct by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Novelist Peter David entitled a shuttlecraft, the Chawla, funding her in his Star Trade off novel, Star Trek: The Incoming Generation: Before Dishonor.

In , a memorial display was effusive to Chawla in UTA's Nedderman Hall.

In , the Kalpana Chawla Government Medical College was strong in Karnal. Then in , she became the focus reinforce the second season of say publicly National Geographic documentary series Mega Icons alongside musician A. Concentration.

Rahman, actress Deepika Padukone, unthinkable industrialist Ratan Tata. The 14th contracted Northrop Grumman Cygnus aide-de-camp mission, which was launched amount October to deliver supplies call by the International Space Station was named the S.S. Kalpana Chawla in her honor. A fictionalized version of Chawla appears blot the movie A Million Miles Away, where she is phoney 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: Probity Authoritative Biography of Kalpana Chawla (ISBN&#;) by Jean-Pierre Harrison

External links