Describe Kalpana Chawla's first mission in space.

Hint: The context of the above question is given in the chapter ‘An Indian–American Woman in Space: Kalpana Chawla’ adapted from Span January/February 1998.

Complete answer:
Kalpana Chawla was born in Karnal, India. Her journey to NASA was a long one. She graduated from Tagore School, India, completed Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering,went for a master’s degree to the United States of America and later earned her Ph.D. in aerospace engineering as well. She was not only an astronaut but also a licensed pilot for y single and multi engine land airplanes, single-engine seaplanes and gliders. She was also a certified flight instructor. She worked as a research scientist at NASA before getting selected for astronaut training in 1994.

She went on to become the first woman astronaut of Indian origin. It was in 1997 when an international crew went aboard in the U.S. Space Shuttle, Columbia. Kalpana Chawla was one of them. Her first space mission in the space shuttle, Columbia, was approximately 16 days long. In these 16 days, she went around the earth 252 times which is about 10.45 million kilometres. The crew included members from Ukraine and Japan as well. They performed experiments such as pollinating plants to observe food growth in space and tests for making stronger metals and faster computer chips. The cost of this entire project was about 56 million dollars.

Note: Even though the first mission of the U.S. Space Shuttle Columbia became a success, the crew members succumbed to the failed second mission in 2003. All crew members including Kalpana Chawala died in the accident.