Kalpana Chawla
The first woman and second Indian to go to space was Kalpana Chawla. Chawla’s journey to become a NASA astronaut was all about her perseverance and hard work. After doing her early education in Punjab, she shifted to the USA to complete her Masters in Aerospace Engineering and also earned a doctorate in the same field. Her extensive work with NASA began in 1988, and her first chance to fly was on the Space Shuttle Columbia in 1997. Along with a crew of six, Chawla served as a mission specialist and primary robotic arm operator.
Chawla then got a second chance to fly as a part of the crew of STS-107. This was a crew of seven astronauts that flew out for a 16-day journey and completed more than 80 experiments. These experiments were part of Chawla’s microgravity research. But unfortunately, due to an ill-fated accident which happened just 16 minutes before the shuttle was supposed to land, the shuttle disintegrated over Texas while re-entering Earth’s atmosphere. She was posthumously honored with accolades and became a shining beacon of hope for girls in India.
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