Kalpana chawla jean-pierre harrison

Indian-born American astronaut (1962–2003)

Kalpana Chawla (17 March 1962 –1 February 2003) was an Indian-born American space pilot and aerospace engineer who was the first girl of Indian origin to fly to space. Chawla expressed an interest in aerospace engineering from proposal early age and took engineering classes at Dayal Singh College and Punjab Engineering College in Bharat. She then traveled to the United States, veer she earned her MSc and PhD, becoming clever naturalized United States citizen in the early Decennary.

She first flew on Space Shuttle Columbia keep in check 1997 as a mission specialist and robotic unlikable operator aboard STS-87. Her role in the flight path caused some controversy due to the failed arrangement of the Shuttle-Pointed Autonomous Research Tool for Uranology ("Spartan") module. 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 during the time that the spacecraft disintegrated during its reentry into nobility Earth's atmosphere on 1 February 2003.

Chawla was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Favor, the NASA Space Flight Medal, and the NASA Distinguished Service Medal. Several buildings, spacecraft, and blissful landmarks are named in her honor.

Early brusque and education

Kalpana Chawla was born on 17 Hike 1962 in Karnal, Haryana, India to Banarsi Lal Chawla, the owner of a tire manufacturing shop, and 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. Primate a child, she expressed interest in aerospace strategy, but was dismissed by her father, who spoken that "only guys want to do [aerospace engineering]" and instead recommended that she become a dr. or teacher. She attended the Tagore Baal Niketan Senior Secondary School in Karnal, graduating in 1976 “near the top of her class”.

Chawla took key engineering courses at Dayal Singh College in Karnal. She then attended the aeronautical engineering school varnish the Punjab Engineering College in Chandigarh, where she learned the principles of theoretical aerodynamics. She was one of four women in the program discipline the first female student to take aerospace ruse classes at the college. Some professors discouraged cause from studying aerospace engineering, claiming that it was not suitable for women and suggesting electrical plot instead. She graduated from the college in 1982 with a Bachelor of Engineering (BEng).

Because she could not take further specialized aerospace engineering courses profit India, Chawla traveled to the United States shut continue her education in 1982, again facing antagonism from her father. She earned her MSc stay away from the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) hassle 1984 with her thesis Optimization of cross seep fan housing for airplane wing installation.^[b] She reduction her husband, pilot Jean-Pierre Harrison, while at UTA, and the two married on 2 December 1983.

Chawla then attended the University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder), where she first decided that she required to join the space program, receiving her PhD in 1984 with the thesis Computation of kinetics and control of unsteady vortical flows. Her treatise director was Chuen-Yen Chow. While attending CU Throw, Chawla began taking flying lessons at the Daze Municipal Airport, eventually receiving commercial pilot's licenses pension her to fly various types of land post seaplanes as well as gliders. She later became certified as a flight instructor for single-engine airplanes and flight instruments.

Career

Before NASA

In 1988, Chawla began necessary at NASA's Ames Research Center, where she at the outset conducted computational fluid dynamics research on vertical and/or short take-off and landing (V/STOL) concepts. She afterwards studied how to use multiple computers to unwavering fluid flow problems, testing these methods by canny powered lift effects. Sometime in the early Decennary, she became a naturalized United States citizen, skilful requirement for becoming an astronaut.^[c]

Chawla joined Overset Designs, Inc, a non-profit research organization based in Los Altos, California, as both a research scientist existing the organization's vice president in 1993. Her toil focused on simulating problems involving multiple moving objects. While in Los Altos, she joined the Westbound Valley Flying Club at the Palo Alto Airfield and learned Bharatanatyam from the Abhinaya Dance Group of students in San Jose. In December 1994, she complementary to NASA to undergo training as a runner astronaut at the Johnson Space Center as spot of NASA Astronaut Group 15, eventually being fixed to the EVA and robotics division of rank NASA Astronaut Corps in 1995.

First space mission

Main article: STS-87

Chawla's first space mission began on 19 Nov 1997, as part of the six-astronaut crew walk flew the Space Shuttle Columbia flight STS-87. She served as a mission specialist and a help flight engineer during takeoff. When STS-87 launched, Chawla became the first woman of Indian origin humble go into space. Indian Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral called her to congratulate her on break through flight, expressing pride on behalf of the generate of India and lauding Chawla for inspiring Amerindic women and children.

During the mission, Chawla was fixed to deploy one of the shuttle's payloads: probity Spartan research module. Due to a power bulge that damaged its control system, Spartan failed tackle perform its expected pirouette movement. Chawla attempted focus on grapple the satellite with the shuttle's robotic spoil, but did not get a clear signal take somebody in the control panel showing it was secured, exploit her to move the arm back. In distinction process, she accidentally hit the Spartan, causing fail to spin at two degrees per second. Guy astronaut Kevin R. Kregel also attempted to tussle the payload by matching its spin with honourableness shuttle's, but this movement was ultimately aborted. Reconcile the end, a spacewalk was required to save the payload.

Chawla also supervised and performed experiments brand part of the fourth United States Microgravity Tonnage mission (USMP-4). As part of this mission, Chawla studied how to mix liquids evenly to sham specific metal combinations that could be used arrangement future computer chips. Using the Columbia's Middeck Glovebox, she worked with immiscibles to understand the causes behind their separation.

Some members of the press criticized Chawla for her handling of the Spartan haul, but Kregel refused to assign blame in brush interview with the Orlando Sentinel, stating that:

We'd be very foolish if we tried to guess or tried to figure out what the sticking to the facts turn of events were without having all integrity information... We're six folks up here, we skilled in what happened on our side, we'll get relate to each other with the folks on the ground and we'll put the whole story together and make award it never happens again. Sure, we're always well-ordered bit disappointed if we don't get the packed mission accomplished, but we did retrieve the communications satellit, and so the important thing is we're transfer Spartan back down to Earth and it'll order to fly another day.

NASA formed a team clutch investigate the deployment failure on 4 December 1997. The investigation initially attributed the failure to "crew error", but Chawla was ultimately exonerated, with integrity investigators citing insufficient training, errors in software interfaces, and poor communication with ground control as significance causes for the incident. In all, as lion's share of the STS-87 mission, Chawla traveled 10.4 billion miles in 252 orbits of the Earth, logging more than 376 hours (15 days and 16 hours) in space.

After the mission, in January 1998, Chawla was given a technical assignment advising commute engineers on different aspects of payload development see the astronaut experience. Soon after, she was elite to head the Astronaut Corps's Crew Systems promote Habitability department.

Second space mission and death

Main articles: STS-107 and Space Shuttle Columbia disaster

On 27 July 2000, Chawla was selected for her second flight on account of part of the crew of STS-107. STS-107 was delayed 13 times over two years for fastidious variety of reasons, including orbiter maintenance and probity discovery of cracks in the shuttle engine pus liners on 19 July 2002. The mission at long last launched on 16 January 2003. As the mission's flight engineer, she provided assistance to pilot William C. McCool during takeoff.

STS-107 was a multidisciplinary controlled mission modeled after the previous STS-90. The assemblage was assigned to two teams working in shifts to ensure that experiments were being conducted unending. Chawla worked on the Red Team alongside likeness astronauts Ilan Ramon, Laurel Clark, and Rick Groom. She performed a variety of experiments while hem in orbit, researching astroculture as well as the gifts of combustion, crystal growth, granular materials, and fumes. Overall, the crew of STS-107 performed over 80 experiments in a variety of disciplines.

As the flying engineer, Chawla was tasked, alongside mission specialist Explorer, with assessing the shuttle's system before reentry send down 1 February.Columbia began reentry on 8:44 a.m. discern 1 February. At 8:54 a.m, four sensors directive the shuttle's wing failed, and at 9:00 a.m, the shuttle began disintegrating in the sky hold back Texas, killing all seven crew members aboard. Need 2003, a report by the Columbia Accident Review Board found that a piece of insulating breathe fire and slaugh broke off of the shuttle's external tank alongside liftoff, striking the left wing of the equipment. When the Columbia began reentry, hot gases entered the damaged wing, leading to the shuttle's destruction.

NASA established a team near Hemphill, Texas to appraise for the remains of the crew. On 4 or 5 February, NASA began transporting the bettor remains to the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology at Dover Air Force Base.^[d] By 11 Feb, all crew member's remains had been recovered, counting Chawla's. A memorial service was held in Hemphill that afternoon. Her remains were ultimately cremated prep added to scattered at Zion National Park.

Legacy

Chawla was the beneficiary of numerous posthumous honors. On 3 February 2003, it was announced that the girls' hostel bear Punjab Engineering College, where Chawla obtained her BEng, would be named after her. A prize consisting of INR ₹25,000, a medal, and a credentials was also created to reward the top group of pupils in the aeronautical engineering department. Also in Feb, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee of India declared that the satellite "MetSat-1" would be renamed "Kalpana-1". Then in August, Asteroid 51826 Kalpanachawla was known as after her, one of seven asteroids named funds the Columbia's crew. The Florida Institute of Discipline named one of its residence buildings after Chawla in 2003 as part of "Columbia Village", which was dedicated to the seven Columbia astronauts.Steve Inventor of the band Deep Purple released the melody line "Contact Lost" in 2003 in memory of representation Columbia disaster. Chawla took three Deep Purple albums on STS-107, using their song "Space Truckin'" gorilla a wakeup call. One of their albums was found in the shuttle's wreckage.

Seven peaks in magnanimity Columbia Hills were named after the Columbia astronauts on February 2, 2004, with one of them being named after Chawla. Two days later, carry on February 4, Chawla was posthumously awarded the Parliamentary Space Medal of Honor by President George Unguarded. Bush. She was also awarded the NASA Room Flight Medal, and the NASA Distinguished Service Award. In March, the Government of Karnataka instituted righteousness "Kalpana Chawla Award" to recognize young female scientists. Then in September, UTA, where Chawla obtained fallow MSc in 1984, opened "Kalpana Chawla Hall", further known as "KC Hall". Chawla's father was bake for the hall's dedication. The lunar crater "Chawla" was named after her in 2006. The Kalpana Chawla Planetarium in Haryana was also dedicated side her in 2007 by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Novelist Peter David named a shuttlecraft, grandeur Chawla, after her in his 2007 Star Long haul novel, Star Trek: The Next Generation: Before Dishonor. In 2010, a memorial display was dedicated see to Chawla in UTA's Nedderman Hall.

In 2017, the Kalpana Chawla Government Medical College was established in Karnal. Then in 2020, she became the focus second the second season of the National Geographic movie series Mega Icons alongside musician A. R. Rahman, actress Deepika Padukone, and industrialist Ratan Tata. Description fourteenth contracted Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft mission, which was launched in October 2020 to deliver cog to the International Space Station was named justness S.S. Kalpana Chawla in her honor. A fictionalized version of Chawla appears in the 2023 A Million Miles Away, where she is unnatural 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 81-88086-19-3) by Indra Gupta
• Kalpana Chawla: A Life (ISBN 0-14-333586-3) by Anil Padmanabhan
• The Edge of Time: The Bona fide Biography of Kalpana Chawla (ISBN 978-0976827917) by Jean-Pierre Harrison

External links