- PERSONAL DATA:
-
- Born in Karnal, India. Died
on February 1, 2003 over the southern United
States when Space Shuttle Columbia and her crew
perished during entry, 16 minutes prior to
scheduled landing. She is survived by her
husband. Kalpana Chawla enjoyed flying, hiking,
back-packing, and reading. She held a
Certificated Flight Instructor's license with
airplane and glider ratings, Commercial Pilot's
licenses for single- and multi-engine land and
seaplanes, and Gliders, and instrument rating for
airplanes. She enjoyed flying aerobatics and
tail-wheel airplanes.
-
- EDUCATION:
-
- Graduated from Tagore School,
Karnal, India, in 1976. Bachelor of science degree in
aeronautical engineering from Punjab Engineering College,
India, 1982. Master of science degree in aerospace
engineering from University of Texas, 1984. Doctorate of
philosophy in aerospace engineering from University of
Colorado, 1988.
- EXPERIENCE:
-
- In 1988, Kalpana Chawla started
work at NASA Ames Research Center in the area of
powered-lift computational fluid dynamics. Her research
concentrated on simulation of complex air flows
encountered around aircraft such as the Harrier in
"ground-effect." Following completion of this
project she supported research in mapping of flow solvers
to parallel computers, and testing of these solvers by
carrying out powered lift computations. In 1993 Kalpana
Chawla joined Overset Methods Inc., Los Altos,
California, as Vice President and Research Scientist to
form a team with other researchers specializing in
simulation of moving multiple body problems. She was
responsible for development and implementation of
efficient techniques to perform aerodynamic optimization.
Results of various projects that Kalpana Chawla
participated in are documented in technical conference
papers and Journals.
- NASA EXPERIENCE:
-
- Selected by NASA in December
1994, Kalpana Chawla reported to the Johnson Space Center
in March 1995 as an astronaut candidate in the 15th Group
of Astronauts. After completing a year of training and
evaluation, she was assigned to work technical issues for
the Astronaut Office EVA/Robotics and Computer Branches.
-
- Kalpana Chawla served as mission
specialist on STS-87 (November 19 to December 5, 1997).
STS-87 was the fourth U.S Microgravity Payload flight and
focused on experiments designed to study how the
weightless environment of space affects various physical
processes, and on observations of the Sun's outer
atmospheric layers. Two members of the crew performed an
EVA (spacewalk) which featured the manual capture of a
Spartan satellite, in addition to testing EVA tools and
procedures for future Space Station assembly. In
completing her first mission, Kalpana Chawla traveled 6.5
million miles in 252 orbits of the Earth and logged 376
hours and 34 minutes in space.
STS-107 Columbia (January 16 to
February 1, 2003). The 16-day flight was a dedicated
science and research mission. Working 24 hours a day, in
two alternating shifts, the crew successfully conducted
approximately 80 experiments. The STS-107 mission ended
abruptly on February 1, 2003 when Space Shuttle Columbia
and her crew perished during entry, 16 minutes prior to
scheduled landing.
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