Kalpana Chawla

Kalpana Chawla (July 1 1961 ? February 1 2003), was an astronaut and space shuttle mission specialist. She died aboard STS-107 (Space Shuttle Columbia) when it disintegrated during reentry into the Earth's atmosphere.

NASA career

Chawla joined the NASA astronaut corps in March 1995 and was selected for her first flight in 1996. Her first space mission began on November 19,1997 as part of the six astronaut crew that flew the Space Shuttle Columbia flight STS-87. Chawla was the first Indian-born woman and the second person of Indian origin to fly in space, following cosmonaut Rakesh Sharma who flew in 1984 in a Soviet spacecraft. It must be noted that while Rakesh Sharma represented India, Chawla was an American astronaut who represented the United States. Sharma and Chawla never met despite their common interests.

Related Topics:
1995 - 1996 - November 19 - 1997 - Space Shuttle Columbia - STS-87 - Rakesh Sharma - 1984 - Soviet

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On her first mission Chawla travelled over 6.5 million miles in 252 orbits of the earth, logging more than 375 hours in space. During STS-87, she was responsible for deploying the Spartan Satellite which malfunctioned, necessitating a spacewalk by Winston Scott and Takao Doi to capture the satellite. A five-month NASA investigation identified errors in software interfaces and flight crew and ground control procedures. Chawla was fully exonerated and significant changes to procedures and software resulted from the final report.

Related Topics:
Spartan Satellite - Winston Scott - Takao Doi

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After the completion of STS-87 post-flight activities, Chawla was assigned to technical positions in the astronaut office, her performance in which was recognized with a special award from her peers. In 2000 she was selected for her second flight as part of the crew of STS-107. This 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 Columbia on the ill-fated STS-107 mission.

Related Topics:
STS-87 - 2000 - STS-107 - 2002 - January 16 - 2003

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Chawla's responsibilities included the SPACEHAB/FREESTAR microgravity experiments, for which the crew conducted nearly 80 experiments studying earth and space science, advanced technology development, and astronaut health and safety.

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Chawla's last visit to India was during the 1991 - 1992 new year holiday when she and her husband spent time with her family. For various reasons, Chawla was unfortunately never able to follow up on invitations to visit India after she became an astronaut.

Related Topics:
1991 - 1992

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