A look at Kalpana Chawla’s iconic space journey
BY APARNA SASIKUMAR
On November 19, 1997, Kalpana Chawla became the first South Asian American woman in Space when she launched aboard Columbia, a space shuttle, as part of the STS-87 mission.
Chawla was born on March 17, 1962 in Karnal India. As a child, she took great interest in flight and aviation, spending days at the local flight club with her father. She graduated from Punjab Engineering College with a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical engineering. Many of her professors discouraged her from choosing Aeronautical engineering as there were few opportunities for girls in India at the time. Still, Chawla continued on this path, confident that aeronautical engineering was for her, and broke barriers for Indian women in STEM. After obtaining her bachelor’s degree, Chawla moved to the United States to continue her studies and became an American Citizen. She got her master’s from the University of Texas-Arlington and a PhD from University of Colorado Boulder in aerospace engineering.
In 1988, Chawla finished her PhD and started working in NASA's Ames Research Center, focusing on powered-lift computational fluid dynamics. Specifically, she was interested in understanding air flow around an aircraft during flight and using computers in aircraft. Later, in 1994, Chawla was selected to be an astronaut and started training in 1995. After training, Chawla became a crew representative for the Astronaut Office EVA/Robotics and Computer Branches. She worked on developing Robotic Situational Awareness Displays and tested space shuttle software. Her first flight was in 1997, aboard the Columbia. She was a mission specialist and operated the robotic arm used to deploy the Spartan Satellite. Other astronauts that were on board with her included Kevin Kregel, Steven Linsey, Winston Scott, Takao Doi and Leonid Kadenyuk. Unfortunately, the satellite malfunctioned, losing control of its position. The purpose of the satellite was to study the Corona or outer layer of the sun. Two of the other astronauts on her team had to perform a spacewalk, where they recovered the satellite. Additionally, the crew carried numerous experiments including plant reproduction in microgravity and the behavior of materials in space. Notably, in regards to her first mission, Chawla remarked that "When you look at the stars and the galaxy, you feel that you are not just from any particular piece of land, but from the solar system."
Chawla’s second mission launched on Jan 16, 2003. She was serving as a mission specialist on STS-107 aboard the Columbia space shuttle. Over 16 days, she and her crew completed over 80 experiments. The experiments included testing technology for recycling water, which was to be used on the International Space Station (ISS), performing experiments with the Spacehab module on biological and health sciences, and more. In total, Chawla logged 30 days, 14 hours, and 54 minutes in space.
On February 1, 2003, the space shuttle was planned to land at Kennedy Space Center. Unfortunately, as the shuttle passed through Earth's atmosphere, hot gas damaged the thermal protection system, the shield that protects it from heat during re-entry. The ship depressurized, killing Chawla and the rest of the crew, consisting of Rick Husband, Laurel Clark, Ilan Ramon, David Brown, William McCool and Michael Anderson. This became known as the Columbia Incident. The shuttle broke up over Texas and Louisiana, and then plunged into the ground. Both NASA and other independent groups investigated the disaster, hoping to learn from it. Every year on the last Thursday of January, NASA honors the Columbia crew, the Challenger space shuttle and Apollo 1.
As the first Indian - American astronaut and first Indian woman in space, Kalpana Chawla served as an inspiration for all South Asian people, especially South Asian women. Her dedication to aerospace teaches us to persevere against all odds and fight for our dreams. For her contributions, she received the NASA Distinguished Service Medal and Congressional Space Medal of Honor. NASA scientists also named 7 asteroids after each crew member aboard the Columbia Space Shuttle as well as 7 hills on Mars. Currently, the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum Archives possesses a selection of her papers. In 2010, the University of Texas, where she got her Masters, built a Kalpana Chawla memorial at the Arlington College of Engineering. Recently, in October 2020, Chawla, a commercial cargo spacecraft, launched to the ISS. Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus capsule was named S.S. Kalpana Chawla "in honor of her prominent place in history as the first woman of Indian descent to go to space."
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