Congressional Space Medal of Honor, NASA Space Flight Medal, NASA Distinguished Service Medal.
Kalpana Chawla (March 17, 1962 – February 1, 2003) was an American astronaut, engineer, and the first woman of Indian origin to go to space. She first flew on Space Shuttle Columbia in 1997 as a mission specialist and primary robotic arm operator.
She started her higher education in India, earning a B.S. in aeronautical engineering from Punjab Engineering College in 1982. Moving to the U.S. she turned to aerospace engineering and received her M.S. from the University of Texas and her Ph.D from the University of Colorado. She began working at NASA's Ames Research Center the same year, dealing with power-lift computational liquid elements. In 1994, Chawla was chosen as a space explorer up-and-comer. Following a time of preparing, she turned into a group agent for the Astronaut Office EVA/Robotics and Computer Branches, where she worked with Robotic Situational Awareness Displays and tried programming for the space transports.
But this mission ended in a tragedy when the space shuttle she was in malfunctioned and exploded before landing. Post her demise, the Indian government named its first weather satellite as “Kalpana-1” in her memory. Chawla was after death granted the Congressional Space Medal of Honor, and several streets, colleges and institutions have been named in her honor.She is regarded as a national hero in India.
