Essay on Kalpana Chawla : Kalpana was an Indo-American astronaut. She was the first indian women to go to space. Kalpana Chawla was one of them. She was born in Karnal, Haryana on 01 July, 1961 of Banwarilal and Sanjogita. She enjoyed flying aerobatics and tail-wheel airplanes. She graduated from Tagore School, Karnal in 1976. And earned her B.Sc in aeronautical engineering from the Punjab Engineering College at Chandigarh in 1982. She moved to the US for her Master of Science degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas in 1984. She also earned her Doctorate of Philosophy in aerospace engineering from the University of Colorado in 1988.
Essay on Kalpana Chawla 400 words
Kalpana was an Indo-American astronaut. She was the first indian women to go to space. Kalpana Chawla was one of them. She was born in Karnal, Haryana on 01 July, 1961 of Banwarilal and Sanjogita. She enjoyed flying aerobatics and tail-wheel airplanes. She graduated from Tagore School, Karnal in 1976. And earned her B.Sc in aeronautical engineering from the Punjab Engineering College at Chandigarh in 1982. She moved to the US for her Master of Science degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas in 1984. She also earned her Doctorate of Philosophy in aerospace engineering from the University of Colorado in 1988.
She 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.” 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.
She was selected by NASA in December, 1994. After completing a year of training and evaluation at the Johnson Space Center, she was assigned as crew representative to work technical issues for the Astronaut Office EVA/Robotics and Computer Branches. Her assignments included work on development of Robotic Situational Awareness Displays and testing space shuttle control software in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory. In November, 1996, Kalpana Chawla was assigned as mission specialist and prime robotic arm operator on STS-87.
Kalpana Chawla was assigned in January 1998, as the crew representative for shuttle and station flight crew equipment, and subsequently served as leader for Astronaut Office’s Crew Systems and Habitability section.
STS-87 Columbia (November 19 to December 5, 1997) was the fourth U.S Microgravity Payload flight which 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. It made 252 orbits of the Earth, travelling 6.5 million miles in 376 hours and 34 minutes.
Her next space experience was in the STS-107 Columbia (January 16 to February 1, 2003) which was a 16-day flight dedicated to 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.
Even in her death, we have a lesion as a promising astronaut was lost with other crew members. She is no more with us today, but the path she has shown has opened up new vistas in the space exploration.
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