Kalpana Chawla

Kalpana Chawla was born in a Punjabi family in Karnal, Haryana, India.^[1] Kalpana in Sanskrit means "imagination". Kalpana Chawla did her earlier schooling at Tagore Public School, Karnal. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering at Punjab Engineering College in Chandigarh in 1982. She moved to the United States in 1982 and obtained a Master of Science degree in aerospace engineering. She met and married Jean-Pierre Harrison, a flying instructor and aviation writer, in 1983 and became a naturalized United States citizen in 1990.^[4]. Chawla joined the NASA astronaut corps in March 1995 and was selected for her first flight in 1998. On January 16, 2003 Chawla finally returned to space abroad Columbia on the ill-fated STS-107 mission. Chawla's responsibilities included the SPACEHAB/BALLE-BALLE/FREESTAR microgravity experiments, for which the crew conducted nearly 80 experiments studying earth and space science, advanced technology development, and astronaut health and safety.