Kalpana Chawla ( – ) was an 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.
Kalpana Chawla (1962–2003) was an Indian-born American astronaut and the first woman of Indian origin to go to space. She flew two missions to space aboard the space shuttle Columbia (1997 and 2003) and was one of seven astronauts who died when Columbia disintegrated on reentry into Earth’s atmosphere on .
Chawla made history as the first Indian woman, and the first South Asian American woman, to fly in space. Indian Prime Minister Inder Kumal Gujral called Chawla in space to congratulate her on her journey and express pride in her representing India in space.
Kalpana Chawla became the first Indian-born woman to go to space in 1997. Six years later, on , Chawla died when the space shuttle Columbia broke up on re-entry into Earth's...
In 1988, Chawla started her career at NASA after earning her PhD. She researched powered-lift computational fluid dynamics at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California until she was selected for astronaut training in 1994.
Died on over the southern United States when Space Shuttle Columbia and her crew perished during entry, 16 minutes prior to scheduled landing. She is survived by her husband. Kalpana Chawla enjoyed flying, hiking, back-packing, and reading.
Dr. Kalpana Chawla was an astronaut and aerospace engineer on the space shuttle Columbia, and the first Indian woman in space.