Born on 17 March 1962, Kalpana Chawla was the first Indian-American Astronaut to record history as the first Indian woman to go into space. She died on 1 February 2023 in her second space mission STS-107.
After completing her PhD in 1988, Kalpana Chawla joined NASA’s Ames Research Centre. NASA selected Kalpana as an Astronaut in 1994. She went on her first space mission abroad Space Shuttle Columbia in 1997.
She dreamt of aviation and space exploration at a very young age. She used to visit local flying clubs with her father to capture her imagination and zeal to explore the skies in the future.
Words are not enough for her. Her contributions to astronautics were praised by awards like the NASA Space Flight Medal, the NASA Distinguished Service Medal and the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.
Kalpana Chawla got married to Jean-Pierre Harrison on 2 December 1983. He was a fellow astronaut. Kalpana’s courage and determination are the epitome of- If You Can Dream It, You Can Make It A Reality.