Name:
Alfiya. S
Option:
Physical Science
Reg.
No. 18214387005
INTRODUCTION
Kalpana Chawla was an Indian-born
American astronaut and space shuttle mission specialist. A girl who had always
dreamt of the moon and the stars had herself become a star. Not only did she
achieve her dreams but she also led her life with the highest sense of values and
purpose in every respect. The space shuttle Columbia, while returning to Earth,
disintegrated in air on 1st Feb, 03 about 16 minutes before it was scheduled to
touch down, killing all seven crew members."Kalpana, or K.C. to her
friends, was admired personally for her extraordinary kindness and technically
for her strive for perfection,"
KALPANA CHAWLA
(1962 March 17 – 2003 February 1)
Kalpana Chawla
v Nasa Astronaut
v Born : March
17, 1962, Karnal, Punjab, India
(Now
in Haryana, India)
v Died : February
1, 2003 (Aged 40)
Abroad Space Shuttle Columbia over Texas, U.S.
v Previous : Research
Scientist
Occupation
v Alma
Mater : Punjab Engineering College
University
of Texas at Arlington
University
of Colorado at Boulder
v Time
in Space : 31 days, 14 hours, 54 minutes
v Selection : 1994
NASA Group
v Missions : STS-87,
STS-107
EARLY LIFE
Kalpana Chawla was born on March
17, 1962 in Karnal, Punjab, now in Haryana, India. She completed her earlier
schooling at Tagore Baal Niketan Senior Secondary School, Karnal and completed
her Bachelor of Engineering degree in Aeronautical Engineering at Punjab
Engineering College at Chandigarh in 1982. She moved to the United States in
1982 where she obtained a Master of Science degree in aerospace engineering
from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1984. Determined to become an
astronaut even in the face of the Challenger disaster, Chawla went on to earn a
second Masters in 1986 and a PhD in aerospace engineering in 1988 from the
University of Colorado at Boulder.
CAREER
In 1988, she began working at the
NASA Ames Research Center as Vice President of Overset Methods, Inc. where she
did Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) research on Vertical/Short Takeoff and
Landing concepts. Chawla held a Certificated Flight Instructor rating for
airplanes, gliders and Commercial Pilot licenses for single and multi-engine
airplanes, seaplanes and gliders.
Becoming a naturalized U.S. citizen
in April 1991, Chawla applied for the NASA Astronaut Corps. She joined the
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, "You
are just your intelligence". She had traveled 10.67 million km, as many as
252 times around the Earth.
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 Indian person to fly in space, following cosmonaut Rakesh Sharma who
flew in 1984 on the Soyuz T-11. On her first mission, Chawla traveled over 10.4
million miles in 252 orbits of the earth, logging more than 372 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 fully exonerated Chawla by
identifying errors in software interfaces and the defined procedures of flight
crew and ground control.
After the completion of STS-87
post-flight activities, Chawla was assigned to technical positions in the
astronaut office to work on the space station, her performance in which was
recognized with a special award from her peers.
Chawla in the space shuttle simulator
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. Chawla's responsibilities included the microgravity experiments, for
which the crew conducted nearly 80 experiments studying earth and space science,
advanced technology development, and astronaut health and safety.
DEATH
Main
article: Space Shuttle Columbia disaster
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
death of all seven crew members, shortly before it was scheduled to conclude
its 28th mission, STS-107.
AWARDS
Posthumously
Awarded:
v Congressional
Space Medal of Honor
v NASA
Space Flight Medal
v NASA
Distinguished Service Medal
CONCLUSION
Chawla was motivated person who
made an impression on others. Despite
her fame, she was truly a down to earth person.
She had a great bonding with her class from the Tagore School and was
highly respectful of her teachers. Even
after kept in touch with some of her closest friends to the end of her
death. She died as a hero and a role
model for many young woman.
REFERENCES
The data collected from online resources.
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