“When you look at the stars and the galaxy, you feel that you are not from any particular piece of land, but from the solar system.”
This inspirational quote was said by Kalpana Chawla, the first Indian-born woman and the second Indian person to fly in space. She was born in Karnal, Haryana, on March 17, 1962, to Banaras Lal Chawla and Sanjyothi Chawla and was the youngest of four children. She developed her extraordinary interest in flying after first seeing a plane at around the age of three. During her schooling at Tagore Baal Niketan Senior Secondary School, she went to local flying clubs and watched planes with her father. Chawla obtained a degree in aeronautical engineering from Punjab Engineering College. She was discouraged by her professors while selecting the course since there were limited opportunities in India for girls to pursue this career. Thus, after completing her engineering degree, she emigrated to the USA and attained citizenship there to continue her studies.She obtained her master’s degree from the University of Texas and earned a doctorate in aerospace engineering from the University of Colorado in 1988. In the same year, she started working at NASA’s Ames Research Centre, on powered-lift computational fluid dynamics. In 1993, she joined Overset Methods, Inc. as vice president and Research Scientist. Further, she joined NASA’s Astronaut Corps in March 1995 and was selected for her first flight in 1997.
Her first space mission began on 19th November 1997, aboard the space shuttle Columbia on flight STS-87. The shuttle made 252 orbits of the Earth in just over two weeks. Kalpana Chawla was a mission specialist and prime robotic arm operator for the flight. She used the robotic arm to deploy a satellite called SPARTAN 201, which was meant to study the outer layer of the sun. Unfortunately, the satellite malfunctioned and never conducted any research.
In 2000, Chawla was selected for her second flight as part of the seven-astronaut crew of STS-107.The mission was repeatedly delayed due to scheduling conflicts and technical problems. It was finally launched on 1st February 2003. The crew performed nearly 80 experiments studying the Earth and space science. Unfortunately, a briefcase-sized piece of insulation had broken off during the launch. It had damaged the thermal protection system, causing hot gas to steam into the shuttle’s wing as it re-entered earth’s atmosphere. The shuttle became unstable and broke apart, and within a minute, the crew was all killed.
She was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor, the NASA Space Flight Medal, and the NASA Distinguished Service Medal.Along with an asteroid in the outer region of the asteroid belt, several streets, institutions and universities have been named in her honour.India’s meteorological series of satellites, which were called METSAT were also renamed after her.
Even though Kalpana Chawla died a tragic death, she left an unforgettable legacy that inspires thousands of Indian women to this day. She showed how there are no limits to what one can achieve.
Shraddha Gupta
Grade – IX
Indus Valley World School
