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Kalpana Chawla Facts & Worksheets

Kalpana Chawla was the first Indian-American astronaut in space. She was part of the crew that flew on the STS-107 Columbia.

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Kalpana Chawla was the first Indian-American astronaut in space. She was part of the crew that flew on the STS-107 Columbia.

See the fact file below for more information on the Kalpana Chawla or alternatively, you can download our 25-page Kalpana Chawla worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

EDUCATION

  • Kalpana graduated from Tagore School, Karnal, India, in the year 1976.
  • She obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Punjab Engineering College, India, in 1982.
  • Shortly after, she migrated to the United States and became a naturalized citizen.
  • She then moved on to gain her Master of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Texas in the year 1984.
  • Afterward, she earned a Doctorate in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Colorado in the year 1988.

EARLY CAREER

  • Kalpana Chawla was born on July 1, 1961, in Karnal, India. She was the youngest out of four children. Her name Kalpana means “idea” or “imagination.” Her full name is pronounced as CULL-puh-na CHAV-la.
  • Kalpana Chawla started working at the NASA Ames Research Center in the year 1988. She focused on the area of powered lift computational fluid dynamics. She concentrated her research on the simulation of complex airflows that were encountered around aircraft. An example of this was the Harrier in “ground-effect.”
  • After completing that project, she supported research in mapping of flow solvers to parallel computers and testing these solvers by carrying out powered lift computations.
  • In the year 1993, she became a part of Overset Methods Inc., in Los Altos, California. Here, she became the Vice President and Research Scientist and formed a team with other researchers who also specialized in simulation of moving multiple body problems. She handled the development and implementation of efficient techniques to perform aerodynamic optimization.
  • The results of Kalpana’s work were documented in technical conference papers and journals.

WORKING WITH NASA

  • In December of the year 1994, Kalpana Chawla was selected by NASA. In March of the following year (1995), she was sent to Johnson Space Center as an astronaut candidate in the 15th group of astronauts.
  • She spent a year completing her training and evaluation. Afterward, she was assigned as crew representative and was tasked to work on technical issues for the Astronaut Office EVA/Robotics and Computer Branches. In November of the year 1996, Kalpana Chawla was assigned as a mission specialist and prime robotic arm operator on STS-87.
  • Then, in January of the year 1998, she was assigned as crew representative for shuttle and station flight crew equipment.
  • She served as lead for Astronaut Office’s Crew Systems and Habitability section. She flew on STS-87 in the year 1997 and on STS-107 in the year 2003.
  • Over the course of her two missions, Chawla logged 30 days, 14 hours, and 54 minutes in space.

SPACE FLIGHT EXPERIENCE

  • In the year 1997, Kalpana Chawla flew on STS-87 Columbia from November 19 to December 5. STS-87 was the United States’ fourth Microgravity Payload mission, and it focused on studies to see how the weightlessness of space affects different physical processes, as well as observations of the Sun’s outer atmospheric layers.
  • Two members of the crew took part in an EVA (extravehicular activity) that involved the manual capture of a Spartan satellite as well as the testing of EVA equipment and procedures for potential Space Station assembly. STS-87 orbited the Earth 252 times, covering a distance of 6.5 million miles in 376 hours and 34 minutes.
  • STS-107 is a spacecraft that is currently in orbit. From January 16 to February 1, 2003, Columbia traveled. The flight was 16 days long and was solely devoted to science and research missions. The team worked in two shifts for a total of 24 hours per day. They were able to complete approximately 80 experiments as a result of this.
  • The space shuttle was launched into orbit and returned to Earth on February 1, 2003. It was expected to touch down at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. A briefcase-sized piece of insulation had broken off during launch, destroying the shuttle’s thermal protection device, the shield that protects it from heat during re-entry.
  • As the shuttle passed through the atmosphere, hot gas streaming into the wing caused it to break up.
  • When the wing broke, the aircraft became unstable and began to pitch and roll. In less than a minute, the damage caused the spacecraft to depressurize, which killed all the crew suddenly. The violent entry into the atmosphere caused the shuttle to break up in the skies above Texas. The accident was the second major disaster for the space shuttle program, following the 1986 explosion of the shuttle Challenger.
  • In the accident, the whole crew was killed. There were a total of seven people including Chawla who perished: Michael Anderson, Rick D. Husband, David Brown, William McCool, Laurel Clark, and Illan Ramon.

KALPANA CHAWLA’S LEGACY

  • The events of the space shuttle have been officially studied and written on in order to learn more about what happened and how to avoid similar tragedies in the future.
  • There have been a few documentaries made about the crew of the Columbia. “Astronaut Diaries: Remembering the Columbia Shuttle Crew” (2005) and “Space Shuttle Columbia: Mission of Hope,” which centered on Ilan Ramon, are two examples (2013).
  • In 2010, the Arlington College of Engineering at the University of Texas dedicated a Kalpana Chawla memorial. The exhibit featured a flight suit, images, biographical details about Chawla, and a flag flown over the Johnson Space Center during a memorial for the Columbia astronauts when it first opened.

Kalpana Chawla Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about Kalpana Chawla across 25 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use Kalpana Chawla worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about Kalpana Chawla who was the first Indian-American astronaut in space. She was part of the crew that flew on the STS-107 Columbia.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • Name Game
  • School Spirit
  • Blast Off!
  • Training for Space
  • Going on a Trip
  • Kalpana’s Journey
  • Comparing Missions
  • Searching from Space
  • Dear Kalpana
  • Celebrating Life

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Use With Any Curriculum

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