browngirlica-historia:Kalpana Chawla, was the first Indian-born woman in space.March 17, 1962 – Febr
browngirlica-historia:Kalpana Chawla, was the first Indian-born woman in space.March 17, 1962 – February 1, 2003Some background from Wikipedia:Kalpana Chawla was born on March 17, 1962 in Karnal. Her official date of birth was altered to 1 July 1961 to allow her to join school underage.While other children of her age dressed their Barbie dolls, Kalpana liked to draw the pictures of airplanes. She moved to the United States in 1982 where she obtained a Master of Science degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1984. Determined to become an astronaut even in the face of the Challenger disaster, Chawla went on to earn a second Masters in 1986 and a PhD in aerospace engineering in 1988 from the University of Colorado at Boulder…Her first space mission began on November 19, 1997, as part of the six-astronaut crew that flew the Space Shuttle Columbia flight STS-87. Chawla was the first Indian-born woman and the second Indian person to fly in space, following cosmonaut Rakesh Sharma who flew in 1984 on the Soyuz T-11.Rakesh Sharma[Source]Chawla died in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster which occurred on February 1, 2003, when the Columbia disintegrated over Texas during re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere, with the death of all seven crew members, shortly before it was scheduled to conclude its 28th mission, STS-107. Just 16 minutes before landing, the space shuttle disintegrated, killing all on board.She has a number of posthumous honours, including a whole meteorite bearing her name. -- source link
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