10 Interesting Kalpana Chawla Facts

Friday, May 16th 2014. | People


Kalpana Chawla facts bring the interesting information about the first Indian American astronaut. This woman died in a disaster of the space shuttle Columbia. She was honored not only in America, but also in India due to her great contribution as an astronaut. Find out more about her in the following post below:

Kalpana Chawla Facts 1: date of birth

Kalpana Chawla was born on 17 March, 1962 in Karnal, India.  She was famous as the first Indian woman to travel on space.

Kalpana Chawla Facts 2: the first fly

The first fly on space was conducted by Kalpana Chawla in 1997. At that time, she was in a mission with Space Shuttle Columbia. Her jobs were as a primary robotic arm operator and mission specialist.

Kalpana Chawla Astronout

Kalpana Chawla Astronout

Kalpana Chawla Facts 3: death

Her death in 2003 made people sad.  She is one of the seven crews who died in the space Shuttle Columbia. Read Apollo 13 facts to know another mission failure.

Kalpana Chawla Facts 4: education

Let’s talk about the early education of Kalpana Chawla.  She was a student of Tagore Baal Niketan Senior Secondary School, Karnal. In 1982, she graduated from Punjab Engineering College at Chandigarh with a major Aeronautical Engineering. She got a bachelor degree of Engineering.

Kalpana Chawla Death

Kalpana Chawla Death

Kalpana Chawla Facts 5: a Master of Science degree

After she obtained her bachelor degree, she decided to move to United States in 1982. She pursued Master of Science degree from University of Texas at Arlington with a major in aerospace engineering.

Kalpana Chawla Facts 6: dream as an astronaut

To pursue her dream as an astronaut she decided to have higher education.  In 1986, she got her second master degree in 1986. In 1988, she earned a PhD in aerospace engineering from University of Colorado at Boulder.

Kalpana Chawla Facts

Kalpana Chawla Facts

Kalpana Chawla Facts 7: NASA

In her early career, she worked for NASA in 1988.   She took the position as Vice President of Overset Methods, Inc in NASA Ames Research Center.

Kalpana Chawla Facts 8: jobs

When she became the vice president at NASA, she was responsible to make Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) research on Vertical/Short Takeoff and Landing concepts.

Kalpana Chawla Pic

Kalpana Chawla Pic

Kalpana Chawla Facts 9: a Certificated Flight Instructor

Chawla was a handy woman. She got a commercial pilot license for the seaplanes, multi engine air place and glider. Moreover, she also earned a Certificated Flight Instructor for glider and airplanes.

Kalpana Chawla Facts 10: NASA Astronaut Corps

Chawla applied for the member of NASA Astronaut Corps after she became a United States citizen in 1991 with a naturalized process.

Kalpana Chawla

Kalpana Chawla

There are many awards that she got. Some of them are NASA Distinguished Service Medal, NASA Space Flight Medal and Congressional Space Medal of Honor. Do you have any opinion on facts about Kalpana Chawla?


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