Kalpana Chawla, born on 17 March 1962, was an Indian-born American
astronaut and aerospace engineer who was who was the first woman of Indian
origin to fly to space. She first flew on Space Shuttle Columbia in
1997 as a mission specialist and primary robot arm operator aboard STS-87.
Chawla's second flight was on STS-107, the
final flight of Columbia, in 2003. She was one of the seven crew
members who died in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster when the
spacecraft disintegrated during its re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere on 1
February 2003. Chawla was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space
Medal of Honor, and several streets, universities, and institutions have
been named in her honor.
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