Biography kalpana chawala

Indian-born American astronaut (–)

Kalpana Chawla (17 March –1 February ) was an Indian-born American astronaut and aerospace engineer who was the first woman of Indian origin to fly to space.

Chawla expressed an interest in aerospace engineering from an early age and took engineering classes at Dayal Singh College and Punjab Engineering College in India. She then traveled to the United States, where she earned her MSc and PhD, becoming a naturalized United States citizen in the early s.

Biography kalpana chawala

She first flew on Space Shuttle Columbia in as a mission specialist and robotic arm operator aboard STS Her role in the flight caused some controversy due to the failed deployment of the Shuttle-Pointed Autonomous Research Tool for Astronomy ("Spartan") module.

Chawla's second flight was in on STS, the final flight of Columbia. She was one of the seven crew members who died in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster when the spacecraft disintegrated during its reentry into t