Kalpana Chawla : The first woman of Indian origin to go to space.
Kalpana Chawla (17 March 1962 – 1 February 2003) was an American astronaut, engineer, and the 1st lady of Indian origin to go to space. She initially flew on Space Shuttle Columbia in 1997 as a mission trained professional and primary robotic arm operator.
In 2003, Chawla was one of the seven crew members who died in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster when the spacecraft disintegrated during its reemergence into the Earth’s atmosphere.
Chawla was posthumously Awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor,and a few roads, colleges, and establishments have been named in her honor. She is viewed as a National Hero in India.
It’s been a long time since her passing, however Indo-American Astronaut, Kalpana Chawla keeps on being an Inspirational power for youth all-over, particularly young ladies. Born in Karnal-Punjab, Kalpana defeated all chances and satisfied her fantasy about trying the impossible.
Kalpana’s first space mission started on November 19, 1997. She was essential for the six-astronaut group that flew the Space Shuttle Columbia flight STS-87.
Not exclusively was Chawla the primary Indian-conceived lady to fly in space, yet in addition the subsequent Indian do as such. During her first mission, Kalpana went over 10.4 million miles in 252 orbits of the earth, logging over 372 hours in space.
Second space mission
In 2001, Chawla was chosen for her second trip as a part of the crew of STS-107. This mission was more than once postponed because of planning clashes and specialized issues, for example, the July 2002 revelation of breaks in the van motor stream liners.
On 16 January 2003, Chawla at long last got back to space aboard Space Shuttle Columbia on the ill-fated STS-107 mission. The crew performed almost 80 investigations contemplating Earth and space science, trend setting innovation improvement, and astronaut health and security.
During the dispatch of STS-107, Columbia’s 28th mission, a piece of froth protection severed from the Space Shuttle outside tank and struck the left-wing of the orbiter.
Past transport dispatches had seen minor harm from froth shedding, but a few architects presumed that the harm to Columbia was more serious. NASA managers restricted the examination, thinking that the team couldn’t have fixed the issue in the event that it had been confirmed.
When Columbia re-entered the atmosphere of Earth, the harm permitted hot barometrical gases to infiltrate and obliterate the inner wing structure, which made the space apparatus become unsteady and break apart.
After the calamity, Space Shuttle flight tasks were suspended for over two years, like the fallout of the Challenger disaster. Development of the International Space Station (ISS) was required to be postponed; the station depended completely on the Russian Roscosmos State Corporation for resupply for a very long time until Shuttle flights continued with STS-114 and 41 months for crew rotation.
On February 1, 2003, Kalpana died in space along with seven crew members in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. The misfortune happened when the Space Shuttle deteriorated over Texas during its reemergence into the earth’s atmosphere.