KALPANA CHAWLA(1962-2003)

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⭐Kalpana chawla(March 17,1962-February 1,2003)was born in karnan,India 🇮🇳.

⭐She was the first Indian American astronaut and first Indian women in space.

⭐She first flew on space shuttle Columbia in 1997 as a mission specialist and primary robotic arm operator.

EDUCATION

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👨‍🚀Chawla completed her earlier schooling at Tagore Baal niketan school,karnal

👨‍🚀After getting a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Punjab Engineering College, India, she moved to the United States in 1982 and obtained a Master of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1984.

NASA CAREER

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Chawla joined the NASA astronaut corps in March 1995 and was selected for her first flight in 1996. She spoke the following words while traveling in the weightlessness of space,”Your are just your intelligence “. She had traveled 10.67 million km,as many as 252 times around the Earth.

KALPANA CHAWLA HUSBAND

Kalpana Chawla got married in 1983 to Jean-Pierre Harrison. And the 20 years, till the unfortunate Space Shuttle Columbia crash that killed her in 2003, are the most cherished memories for her husband. That part of their life is still very private and her husband likes to keep it that way.

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DEATH

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Chawla died in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster which occurred on February 1,2003,when the Space Shuttle disintegrated over Texas during re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere, with the loss of all seven crew members, shortly before it was scheduled to conclude its 28th mission, STS-107.

AWARDS

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POSTHUMOUSLY AWARDED :

🚀Congressional Space Medal of Honor

🚀NASA Space Flight Medal

🚀NASA Distinguished Service Medal

MEMORIALS

⭐On 18 November 2012,in Karnal city, Haryana, India,Chawla’s birthplace and first home town,the foundation stone of the Kalpana Chawla Government Medical college was laid by the Haryana Government in her memory

⭐The Kalpana Chawla ISU Scholarship fund was founded by alumni of the international Space University (ISU) in 2010 to support Indian student participation in international space education programs.

⭐The Kalpana Chawla Memorial Scholarship program was instituted by the Indian Students Association (ISA) at the University of Texas at EI paso (UTEP) in 2005 for meritorious graduate students

⭐The Kalpana Chawla Outstanding Recent Alumni Award at the University of Colorado,given since 1983,was renamed for Kalpana Chawla Asteroid 51826 Kalpana Chawla, one of seven named after the Columbia’s crew.

⭐The Kalpana Chawla Award was instituted by the government of Karnataka in 204 for young women scientists.

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⭐The girls hostel at Punjab Engineering College is named after Chawla. In addition, an award of INR twenty-five thousand, a mental, and a certificate is instituted for the best student in the Aeronautical Engineering department. NASA has dedicated a super computer to Chawla

⭐The Government of Haryana established the Kalpana Chawla planetarium in Jyotisar,Kuruksgetra. The Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur,named the Kalpana Chawla Space

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⭐One February 5, 2003, India’s Prime Minister announced that the meterorological series of satellite, METSAT,was to be renamed as “KALPANA “. The first satellite of the series, “METSAT-1”,launched by the Indian on September 12, 2002,will be now known as “KALPANA-1” . “KALPANA-2” was expected to be launched by 2007