At Prajaapati Vishva Aashram Foundation (PVAF)
this year
we started to document the vital role of women in
veDik lifestyle as part of on-going veD
study....and we started of by drawing everybody's interest with the beauty of
bhaartiy
naari (women) who outshone their female kind on this planet earth
and
bhaartiy
naari professionals in bhaart ..and today we have
bhaartiy
naari going into aakaash (space)..as posted on the
NASA NEWS web site.....
November 19, 1997: NASA: STS-87 Mission
Specialist Kalpana Chawla, Ph.D., sits in her launch and entry suit in
the Operations and Checkout Building before she and the five other crew members
of STS-87 depart for Launch Pad 39B. There, the Space Shuttle Columbia awaits
liftoff on a 16-day mission to perform microgravity and solar research. Born in
Karnal, India, Dr. Chawla received her doctorate of philosophy in aerospace
engineering from the University of Colorado in 1988. This is Chawla's first
mission for NASA. In completing her first mission, Kalpana Chawla traveled 6.5
million miles in 252 orbits of the Earth and logged 376 hours and 34 minutes in
space.
PLEASE CLICK ON THE NEXT LINE TO KNOW THE BIOGRAPHICAL DATE OF KALPANA CHAWLA
(PH.D.), NASA ASTRONAUT
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KALPANA CHAWLA (PH.D.),
NASA ASTRONAUT
National Aeronautics and Space
Administration
Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center
Houston, Texas 77058
Biographical Data
PERSONAL DATA: Born in Karnal, India. Kalpana Chawla enjoys flying, hiking,
back-packing, and reading. She holds Certificated Flight Instructor's license
with airplane and glider ratings, Commercial Pilot's licenses for single- and
multi-engine land and seaplanes, and Gliders, and instrument rating for
airplanes. She enjoys flying aerobatics and tail-wheel airplanes.
EDUCATION: Graduated from Tagore School, Karnal, India, in 1976. Bachelor of
science degree in aeronautical engineering from Punjab Engineering College,
India, 1982. Master of science degree in aerospace engineering from University
of Texas, 1984. Doctorate of philosophy in aerospace engineering from University
of Colorado, 1988.
EXPERIENCE: In 1988, Kalpana Chawla started work at NASA Ames Research Center
in the area of powered-lift computational fluid dynamics. Her research
concentrated on simulation of complex air flows encountered around aircraft such
as the Harrier in "ground-effect." Following completion of this project she
supported research in mapping of flow solvers to parallel computers, and testing
of these solvers by carrying out powered lift computations. In 1993 Kalpana
Chawla joined Overset Methods Inc., Los Altos, California, as Vice President and
Research Scientist to form a team with other researchers specializing in
simulation of moving multiple body problems. She was responsible for development
and implementation of efficient techniques to perform aerodynamic optimization.
Results of various projects that Kalpana Chawla participated in are documented
in technical conference papers and journals.
NASA EXPERIENCE: Selected by NASA in December 1994, Kalpana Chawla reported
to the Johnson Space Center in March 1995 as an astronaut candidate in the 15th
Group of Astronauts. After completing a year of training and evaluation, she was
assigned as crew representative to work technical issues for the Astronaut
Office EVA/Robotics and Computer Branches. Her assignments included work on
development of Robotic Situational Awareness Displays and testing space shuttle
control software in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory.
In November, 1996, Kalpana Chawla was assigned as mission specialist and
prime robotic arm operator on STS-87 (November 19 to December 5, 1997). STS-87
was the fourth U.S Microgravity Payload flight and focused on experiments
designed to study how the weightless environment of space affects various
physical processes, and on observations of the Sun's outer atmospheric layers.
Two members of the crew performed an EVA (spacewalk) which featured the manual
capture of a Spartan satellite, in addition to testing EVA tools and procedures
for future Space Station assembly. In completing her first mission, Kalpana
Chawla traveled 6.5 million miles in 252 orbits of the Earth and logged 376
hours and 34 minutes in space. In January, 1998, Kalpana Chawla was assigned as
crew representative for shuttle and station flight crew equipment. Subsequently,
she was assigned as the lead for Astronaut Office’s Crew Systems and
Habitability section. She is currently assigned to the crew of STS-107 scheduled
for launch in 2003.
JANUARY 2003
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