This is the story of the first female astronaut, Kalpana Chawla…
1 February 2003. This was the day when India’s first female astronaut lost her life while returning from her space trip. Along with him, his companions also lost their lives. When the people of India got the news of his death, the whole country was in grief and shock.
Kalpana Chawla was a resident of Karnal, Haryana. By profession Kalpana Engineer, Technologist. She wanted to fly in space since childhood, her courage was so high that she tried everything to fulfill her dream. She was also an aeronautical engineer (aeronautical engineering). She was such a woman who was a role model for other women. She had made many achievements in the field of aeronautics.
And then in the same year, Kalpana went to America where she also did her Masters in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Texas but she did not stop there and went ahead to achieve her success and in 1986 she got her second Masters in ‘Aerospace Engineering’ and did her PHD. Finished too. In 1983 she married Jean-Pierre Harrison, an aviation writer and flight instructor.
Kalpana also emerged as a flying instructor. He also received licenses for aeroplanes, gliders and commercial aviation. Due to obtaining several degrees in aerospace, he also got a job as the Vice President of ‘Overset Methods Inc’ in ‘Ames Research Center’ in NASA. By 1995, she had become a part of the NASA ‘Astronaut Corps’ (Astronaut Corp).
After 3 years, he was selected to travel around the Earth in the Space Shuttle. This was his first space mission in which 6 other members were also involved with him. In this operation, he was entrusted with the responsibility of organizing the Spartan satellite. But due to poor condition, she failed to do her work properly. Due to a technical problem, control of the satellite ground staff and flight crew members were suspended. But the intelligence of Kalpana Chawla proved it right.
And with this, Kalpana Chawla became India’s first female astronaut and the second Indian to travel to space. You will be surprised to know that Kalpana covered a space journey of 10.4 million kilometres, which is equivalent to circling the Earth about 252 times. Also, he spent a total of 372 hours in space. After this, he was also appreciated for such works of imagination. In the year 2002, he was also selected for his second space trip.
He was also included in the crew of the Columbia spacecraft STS-107. But during this mission, due to a technical fault in the shuttle engine, this operation was postponed for some time. But on January 6, 2003, Kalpana started this mission by boarding the Columbia Space Shuttle. In this mission, he was entrusted with the responsibility of microgravity. Let me tell you that along with Kalpana Chawla, 6 other companions were also involved in this mission.
After a 16-day space flight, on February 1, when the American spacecraft Colombia was returning to Earth, their plane broke apart at a distance of 63 kilometers from the Earth. And in no time, all the seven passengers aboard the plane were killed. This incident was heart-wrenching for India and NASA as well as for the whole world. The debris of the vehicle fell in the Texas city of America, whose speed was 20 thousand kilometers per hour.
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