Kalpana Chawla Research Center
*Kalpana Chawla* 🚀 *Born*: March 17, 1962, Karnal, Haryana, India *Died*: February 1, 2003, over Texas, USA – age 40 She was the *first woman of Indian origin in space* and a NASA astronaut. ### *1. Early Life & Education* - *Hometown*: Karnal, Haryana. The family name was “Montu” – she picked “Chawla” herself. - *Schooling*: Tagore Baal Niketan, Karnal. Was fascinated by planes and visited local flying clubs as a kid. - *College*: http://B.Tech in Aeronautical Engineering, Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh, 1982. Only woman in her batch. - *USA*: Moved for MS in Aerospace Engineering, University of Texas Arlington, 1984. Then PhD, University of Colorado Boulder, 1988. - *Citizenship*: Became a naturalized US citizen in 1991 to join NASA. ### *2. NASA Career* - *Started*: 1988 at NASA Ames Research Center – worked on computational fluid dynamics, airflows around aircraft. - *Astronaut*: Selected by NASA Astronaut Corps in Dec 1994. Reported to Johnson Space Center ...