“You are your intelligence”, She said famously, while experiencing weightlessness in space. This line was once said by a girl who not only made India proud but also made history in the minds of the people worldwide. Besides being an astronaut, she was licensed to fly single and multi-engine land aeroplanes, single-engine seaplanes and gliders. She was also a certified flight instructor.

Hailing from Karnal, Haryana and becoming a naturalized U.S. citizen, She was married to a flight instructor Jean – Pierre Harrison. Kalpana Chawla was the first Indian –American woman astronaut to blast off from the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida, and participate in a successful mission in space. She said that she never dreamed as a child in Karnal, that she would cross the frontiers of space. She also mentioned that she just followed her dreams completely. It was enough that her parents allowed her to attend engineering college after she graduated from Tagore school. After a Bachelor’s of science degree in Aeronautical Engineering, against great opposition from her father, she went for a degree to the United States of America and earned her PhD in aerospace engineering. While seeing her being so successful in her career, her parents from India cheered along with the staff at the Kennedy Space Center as they watched the Columbia lift off.

Her journey was not easy. After qualifying as a pilot, Kalpana began to consider another challenge: applying to NASA's space shuttle program. She was first hired as a research scientist at NASA. In 1994 she was selected by NASA for training as an astronaut. In November 1996, Kalpana Chawla was assigned as mission specialist and prime robotic arm operator on Space Shuttle Columbia. She flew again in 2003, logging 30 days, 14 hours and 54 minutes in space. During this time, she and her team contributed to important studies in their field.

Kalpana’s first space mission in the space shuttle, Columbia, was 15 days, 16 hours and 34 minutes long. During this time she went to the earth 252 times, travelling 10.45 million kilometres! The crew included a Japanese and Ukrainian astronaut.  The crew performed experiments such as pollinating plants to observe food growth in space and tests for making stronger metals and faster computer chips – all for a price tag of about 56 million dollars.

The crew of STS-107 in October 2001. From left to right: Brown, Husband, Clark, Kalpana Chawla, Anderson, McCool, Ramon

“The path from dreams to success does exist! May you have the vision to find it, the courage to get onto it… Wishing you a great journey?" ” was once said by Kalpana in an interview. Sadly, the second mission in Columbia ended in tragedy. She was killed in the Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster in 2003. On the Saturday night when the news about the Columbia disaster broke, there was shock and disbelief. The town of Karnal spent a sleepless night as thousands of households stayed glued to their television sets in the hope that Kalpana and the crew had somehow survived.

A Journalist then wrote: She was a heroine. It takes enormous ability to become an astronaut. You need to know a lot about everything, from biology to astrophysics to aeronautical engineering. In this age of super specialisation, you must have the encyclopaedic knowledge to be an astronaut. Her achievement is awe inspiring. But she remains an inspiration for Indian girls and boys, especially those hailing from small towns, to go after their dreams. Many memorials, awards, scholarships have been founded in her name, in India as well as the US. NASA even named an asteroid in her name. Her legacy lives on.

Kalpana Chawla Hall, University of Texas Arlington