Kalpana Chawla

On this day in 1962, she was born. The first Indian-born woman to fly in space and only the second Indian person to do so. Kalpana Chawla — the name that leaves almost all Indians with pride —  would have been 55 today had it not been for the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster on February 1, 2003 which led to her death and six other astronauts. On her birth anniversary today, we bring you some facts about the Indian astronaut whose achievements continue to inspire many.

* Kalpana Chawla was born and brought up in Karnal, Haryana. While she completed her schooling from Tagore School, Karnal in 1976, she went on to get a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical engineering from Punjab Engineering College in 1982. The same year she moved to US to pursue a Master of Science degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington. In 1988 she got a PhD in the subject from the University of Colorado.

* Chawla knew early on in her life that she wanted to be an aerospace engineer. “Every once in a while,” Chawla said to NASA, “we’d ask my dad if we could get a ride in one of these planes (planes from local flying clubs). And, he did take us to the flying club and get us a ride in the Pushpak and a glider that the flying club had,” she was quoted as saying. Kalpana had been inspired by JRD Tata’s work in aviation.

*  Even in school, Kalpana would often ask questions about space. According to an excerpt from Dilip M Salwi’s book Kalpana Chawla: India’s First Woman Astronaut, 2003, during a school project on making physical geography map of India, Kalpana had covered the classroom ceiling completely with dots marked on blackened newspapers. Apart from this, young Kalpana had always been more eager to draw aeroplanes flying in the sky over a scenery, with mountains, rivers and houses.