UNKNOWN FACTS OF KALPANA CHAWLA

The first India-born woman in space, Kalpana Chawla, died on February 1, 2003. 

On her 13th death anniversary, here are some interesting facts about the eternal voyager:

• Kalpana was born on March 17, 1962, in Karnal, Haryana.

• She acquired her Bachelor of Engineering degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Punjab Engineering College in Chandigarh in 1982.

• In 1982, she moved to the United States for higher studies. There, she obtained a Master of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1984.

• In 1988, she began working at the NASA Ames Research Center, where she did Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) research on Vertical/Short Takeoff and Landing concepts.

• In 1997, Kalpana first flew on Space Shuttle Columbia STS-87 as a mission specialist.

• Kalpana was the first Indian-American astronaut and the first India born woman in space.

• On her first mission, Kalpana travelled over 10.4 million miles in 252 orbits of the earth, logging more than 372 hours in space.

• In the year, 2000, Kalpana was selected for her second flight as part of the crew of STS-107. The mission got repeatedly delayed and Kalpana returned to space on January 16, 2003.

• On February 1, same year, Kalpana Chawla died along with all six other crew members in the Space Shuttle Columbia on the ill-fated STS-107 mission.

Shortly before it was scheduled to conclude its 28th mission, STS-107, the Space Shuttle disintegrated over Texas during re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere, leading to the death of all the seven crew members.