Kalpana chwala challenges she is faced
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It’s been 14 years since her passing, but Indo-American astronaut, Kalpana Chawla continues to be an inspirational force for youth all-over, especially girls. Born in Karnal-Punjab, Kalpana overcame all odds and fulfilled her dream of reaching for the stars. On her death anniversary today, we share a few details about Chawla’s incredible journey.Work at NASA: In 1988, Kalpana’s dream of joining NASA finally came true. She was offered the position of Vice President of Overset Methods, Inc at NASA Research Center and was later assigned to do Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) research on Vertical/Short Takeoff and Landing concepts.
Taking flight: Kalpana was certified with a commercial pilot license for seaplanes, multi-engine aircraft and glider. She was also a certified flight Instructor for glider and airplanes.
US Citizenship and continuation at NASA: On acquiring US citizenship in 1991, Kalpana Chawla applied for the NASA Astronaut Corps. She joined the Corps in March 1995 and was selected for her first flight in 1996.
First mission: Kalpana’s first space mission began on November 19, 1997. She was part of the six-astronaut crew that flew the Space Shuttle Columbia flight STS-87. Not only was Chawla the first Indian-born woman to fly in space, but also the second Indian do so. During her first mission, Kalpana travelled over 10.4 million miles in 252 orbits of the earth, logging more than 372 hours in space.
Second mission: In 2000, Kalpana was selected for her second flight as part of the crew of STS-107. However, the mission was repeatedly delayed due to scheduling conflicts and technical problems, such as the July 2002 discovery of cracks in the shuttle engine flow liners. On January 16, 2003, Chawla finally returned to space aboard Space Shuttle Columbia on the ill-fated STS-107 mission. Her responsibilities included the microgravity experiments, for which the crew conducted nearly 80 experiments studying earth and space science, advanced technology development, and astronaut health and safety.
Death: On February 1, 2003, Kalpana died in space along with seven crew members in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. The tragedy occurred when the Space Shuttle disintegrated over Texas during its re-entry into the earth’s atmosphere.
Awards and honours: During the course of her career, Kalpana received the Congressional Space Medal of Honor, NASA Space Flight Medal and NASA Distinguished Service Medal. Following her death, the Prime Minister of India announced that the meteorological series of satellites, MetSat, was to be renamed ‘Kalpana’ in 2003. The first satellite of the series, ‘MetSat-1’, launched by India on September 12, 2002 was renamed ‘Kalpana-1’. Meanwhile, The Kalpana Chawla Award was instituted by the Government of Karnataka in 2004 to recognise young women scientists. NASA on the other hand has dedicated a supercomputer to the memory of Kalpana Chawla