Who is the first Indian woman to go into space?

Kalpana Chawla is the first Indian woman to go into space. Kalpana was a part of the Space Shuttle Columbia in 1997. She was a primary robotic arm operator and mission specialist. The another mission on which Kalpana went into space was in 2003. She met with an accident when the space shuttle Columbia crashed and caused the death of seven crew members.

Kalpana was born in Punjab in 1962. In 1984, Kalpana obtained her Master's degree in Aerospace from the University of Texas, Arlington. She obtained a doctorate in aerospace engineering from Colorado University, Boulder in 1988.

The first Space Mission of Kalpana was in 1997. She was a part of the Space Shuttle Columbia flight STS-87; it was a group of six astronauts. Kalpana made India proud by being the first Indian-born woman to go to space. She is also the second Indian to go into space. The first Indian was Rakesh Sharma in 1984.

Kalpana spent 372 hours in her first space shuttle in the space. The responsibility on Kalpana was to deploy the Spartan satellite. Kalpana was assigned to another space mission after the completion of the STS-87. She was appointed to the technical position to work on the space station.

The second Space Mission of Kalpana was STS-107 in 2000. The mission failed many times due to technical problems. Due to which the mission was put on hold for a few years.

Kalpana was honored with many awards and recognition. Kalpana Chawla was honored by the former Prime Minister of India by renaming the meteorological series of satellites after her name. The Metsat-1 was renamed as Kalpana-1. Kalpana Chawla award was instituted by the Karnataka government to honor the young women scientists.

In the honor of Kalpana, the 74th Street in Jackson Heights in New York was renamed as Kalpana Chawla Way. The International Space University founded the Kalpana Chawla ISU Scholarship fund in 2010 for the Indian students.

Kalpana Chawla was the first woman of Indian origin to go into space. She has the distinction of having gone twice into space, sent by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). She died under tragic circumstances when the space shuttle she was in, Columbia, exploded when it was making a reentry to earth after having completed its mission in the space on February 1, 2003. 

Early Life:

Kalpana was born in Haryana and finished her education in aeronautical engineering at Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh. After that, she moved to the United States and obtained a Master of Science degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas. After that, she obtained a doctorate in aerospace engineering from the University of Colorado.

Space Voyages:

She went to space twice. Her first mission was in 1997 when she, as part of the six-astronaut crew, flew the Space Shuttle Columbia flight STS-87. With that, she became the first Indian woman and the second Indian after Rakesh Sharma to go into space. Her second, and unfortunately last mission was on Columbia, STS – 107.

The shuttle exploded somewhere near Dallas in the United States when it was re-entering earth. The reason for the explosion was attributed to a large piece of foam that hit the space shuttle. Such was the impact of the explosion that there were no survivors. However, her achievements were duly recognized all over the world. She was given the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.

Kalpana Chawla was the first Indian woman to go into space. She was also the second Indian, after Rakesh Sharma, to achieve this feat. 

Kalpana and her crew died when the space shuttle Columbia crashed in 2003.

Birth:

She was born on March 17, 1962, in India, and was quite interested in air crafts. 

Education:

Her interest earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh.

After moving to the United States, she did double masters in Aerospace Engineering, in the year 1984 and 1986 and then completed Ph.D. in 1988.

Work at NASA:
Kalpana joined NASA in 1988 and did her Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) research on Vertical/Short Takeoff and Landing concepts.

Her Missions:

First Space Mission: Space Shuttle Columbia flight STS-87
The first space mission began on November 19, 1997, to fly the Space Shuttle Columbia flight STS-87. Being a part of the six-astronaut crew she traveled over 10.4 million miles in 252 orbits of the Earth, which logged more than 372 hours in space.

Second Space Mission: Space Shuttle Columbia flight STS-107
Kalpana again made India proud when she was selected for her second flight as part of the crew of STS-107, which was Columbia’s 28th mission. The mission delayed due to technical problems but eventually began on January 16, 2003. During the launch of STS-107, Columbia's 28th mission, a piece of foam insulation broke off from the Space Shuttle external tank. The broken piece struck the left wing of the orbiter.

While returning from the mission, Columbia re-entered the atmosphere of Earth, the damage leads hot atmospheric gases to penetrate. This destroyed the internal wing structure and caused the spacecraft to slowly break apart. All the seven crew members died.

Awards and Recognition
Kalpana Chawla was awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor and NASA Space Flight awards posthumously.

In her honor, the University of Texas at Arlington opened a dormitory named Kalpana Chawla Hall in 2004. Here, Chawla obtained a Master of Science degree in aerospace engineering in 1984.