Kalpana Chawla was born in Karnal, India. She was the first Indian-American astronaut and first Indian woman in space Biography Born in Karnal, India, on July 1, 1961, Chawla was the youngest of four children. The name Kalpana means idea or imagination. Her full name is pronounced CULL-puh-na CHAV-la, though she often went by the nickname K.C. Chawla obtained a degree in aeronautical engineering from Punjab Engineering College before immigrating to the United States and becoming a naturalized citizen in the 1980s. She earned a doctorate in aerospace engineering from the University of Colorado in 1988, having previously obtained her masters degree from the University of Texas. She began working at NASAs Ames Research Center the same year, working on power-lift computational fluid dynamics. In 1994, Chawla was selected as an astronaut candidate. After a year of training, she became a crew representative for the Astronaut OfficeEVA/Robotics and Computer Branches, where she worked with Robotic Situational Awareness Displays and tested software for the space shuttles. Chawlas first opportunity to fly in space came in November 1997, aboard the space shuttle Columbia on flight STS-87. The shuttle made 252 orbits of the Earth in just over two weeks. The shuttle carried a number of experiments and observing tools on its trip, including a Spartan satellite, which Chawla deployed from the shuttle. The satellite, which studied the outer layer of the sun, malfunctioned due to software errors, and two other astronauts from the shuttle had to perform a spacewalk to recapture it.
Posted on: Wed, 20 Aug 2014 12:10:01 +0000
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