Kalpana Chawla : The Inspiration
Posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor, the NASA Space Flight Medal, and the NASA Distinguished Service Medal. "Just looking at Earth, looking at the stars during the night part of Earth; just looking at our planet roll by and the speed at which it goes by and the awe that it inspires; just so many such good thoughts come to your mind when you see all that, doing it again is like living a dream - a good dream - once again, " said the first Indian woman to fly with a U.S. space shuttle crew, Kalpana Chawla. Born in the small town of Karnal, Haryana, in India, this girl had the fire and fiery very few have. Her dreams were no less than touching the stars and that she did, but sadly, soon became one of them. All this, not before making India and Karnal proud. Her inspiration? JRD TATA. It is then not surprising how Kalpana Chawla had logged more than 375 hours in space, prior to the Shuttle Columbia launch and tragedy. Kalpana, the youngest of the four children, was known to have drawn airplanes in drawing competitions and made models of the universe and constellations for her geography projects. She earned an undergraduate degree in aeronautical engineering from Punjab University in 1982. Interestingly, she was the only woman student in the batch. She went on to earn a master's from the University of Texas and a doctorate in the same field. 1994 brought with it dreams Kalpana had always seen. NASA had selected her for a one-year training program to serve as a mission specialist on board shuttle missions. This was a tremendous achievement since NASA selects approximately 20 astronauts every two years from thousands of applicants. Her first space flight, in 1996 was however not very smooth. It found her being blamed for making mistakes, as the prime robotic arm operator, which sent a science satellite tumbling out of control. 6 years later, NASA selected her for the STS-107 Columbia mission, a 16-day flight dedicated to science and research. A part of the study was also to gather information for curing cancer and other diseases, by studying cellular behaviour in a less gravity environment. The space shuttle was launched on 16 January 2003 and was due to land on 1 February 2003. But to the utmost shock of the world, the shuttle exploded over Texas just 16 minutes prior to the scheduled landing time. To the utmost shock of the world, the shuttle exploded over Texas just 16 minutes prior to the scheduled landing time. Thus Kalpana left the world after 41 years. It was indeed a big tragedy that will be remembered for generations to come. It was a sad end met by one of India's bravest girls. On 05 Feb 2003, the then Prime Minister of India, Atal Behari Vajpayee, renamed India's first meteorological satellite as 'Kalpana-1.' She is survived by her husband, Jean-Pierre Harrison, a free-lance flying instructor. May her soul rest in peace.
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