Kalpana Chawla, the first Indian astronaut to enter space, was born in Karnal, a wheat and rice - growing centre just 80 miles North of New Delhi, in the northern state of Haryana in 1961.

Her inspiration to take up flying was J. R. D. Tata. On his part, JRD had become the first Indian to get his A - license in India. JRD founded Tata Airlines which would later become Air India and on October 15th in 1932, a light single-engine Puss Moth took off to Mumbai ( then known as Bombay ) via Ahmedabad. At the controls of the tiny plane was Mr Tata, operating the first ever scheduled air service over India.

Like JRD, Kalpana Chawla too would emerge on a major first. In 1997 she had become the first indian woman to venture into space.

Kalpana's journey into space was a long way from her family's humble beginnings. In August of 1947, as India freed herself from the clutches of the British Empire, a fifth of the world's population had convulsed by partition and millions were forced to flee their homes. It was during this unsettling time that the Chawla's had travelled from Lahore and settled in Karnal. Kalpana's achievements and triumph into space would later justify her family's struggles.

Kalpana's early education would begin at the Tagore Bal Niketan school. She later graduated from the Punjab Engineering College in the northern city of Chandigarh in 1982.

Her dreams and aspiration would begin to take shape with her father's blessings, when she boarded a British Airways flight at midnight on August 28th, 1982, for the USA.

She would complete her Masters from the University of Texas and received her doctorate from the University of Colorodo and by 1988 begun her career in the area of fluid dynamics at the Ames Research Center at NASA. By 1993 Kalpana joined the Overset Methods Inc in California as vice president and research scientist in charge of simulating various body functions for future space missions. By 1994 NASA had selected her as an astronaut candidate and she would join the 15th group of astronauts a year later.

Her dedication and sheer brilliance quickly won her assignment as crew representative working on technical issues for NASA's Astronaut Office Extra Vehicular Activities and Robotics dealing in space walks. Kalpana would soon become instrumental in the testing of space control software in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory and became mission specialist and prime arm operator on the STS - 87, involved in the manual capture of an orbiting satellite.

In November of 1997 Karnal rose to prominence as Kalpana Chawla became the first Indian woman to journey into space. On this, her first mission, she traveled 6.5 million miles in 252 orbits of the earth and logged 376 hours and 34 minutes in space.

Her achievements never wavered her love for Karnal and her people back in India. Such was her courage and intellect that NASA would invite her for a second space voyage. On January 16th, 2003, the space shuttle Columbia lift off carrying with it Kalpana and 6 others.

Just days before her encore journey into space, the national Indian magazine, India Today, featured Kalpana on its cover on its January 13th issue. Kalpana then spoke of her upcoming second voyage into space and of the beauties of India's mighty rivers and majestic valleys all of which she saw the first time she was in space.

As an expression of gratitude and love for India, Kalpana would carry into space a white silk cloth with the image of a teacher blessing a bowing girl. She had intended to return the cloth for permanent placement in a Museum in India upon her reentry to earth.

The enthusiasm of the entire Indian nation was so high with pride that The Press Trust of India had calculated exactly when Indians could look to the skies and wave as the space shuttle carrying Kalpana flew past in the heavens, returning her to earth. PTI told readers in Southern Bombay and Madras which minute of the day they could hail their countrywoman.

On Saturday, February 1st, 2003 the Indian nation and NRI's became glued to their television sets awaiting Kalpana's re-entry to earth. However, destiny willed it differently. Just 16 minutes short of touch down there was silence. Communication with the space shuttle and the NASA earth station had suddenly stopped.

As news of the shuttle disaster broke across India, the nation braved a cold wintery night ringing temple bells and prayed for a miracle. Minutes turned into hours and hope turned into grief. The shuttle broke up on reentry into the earth's atmosphere just 200,000 feet over Texas and claimed the lives of Kalpana and the other six crew members.

Kalpana Chawla is remembered as a symbol of pride for every Indian. More importantly though, she is best remembered as a woman of great courage for all of mankind.

- the Music Merchant
Rohit Jagessar

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