Kalpana Chawla
Total 4 Essays
Essay No. 01
Kalpana Chawla was one of the most brilliant space women of the world, who touched the heights of space, and dreamt of conquering the entire world through space.
Kalpana Chawla was born in Karnal town in Haryana on 1 July 1961.
Kalpana Chawla was a great dreamer. She always dreamt of flying like a bird in space and observing the elegant shape of the planet earth right up from there. Kalpana Chawla was also very fond of dancing. She learned Bharat Natyam between 1992 and 1994 at the San Jose-based Abhinaya Dance Company. Thereafter, she joined NASA and was selected from 2,962 applicants for the space programs.
Kalpana Chawla’s application was accepted by NASA in December 1994, and thereafter she began her training in the Johnson Space Centre. In the year 1997, she took her first flight in space and said that she felt as if everything was racing behind her. The moon too raced away from her and soon become invisible. Thus, everything would strike for some time and thereafter get lost from sight.
It was a strange phenomenon for Kalpana Chawla. She had never had seen things in such a wonderful way ever before. It was the first time when she had observed the magnificent creations of God so closely. It was as if her all dreams have turned to reality. At the young age of 41, she had circled around the earth 252 times and had completed 760 hours in space.
Unfortunately, this shining star of space died on 1 February 2003, when the space shuttle Columbia exploded with a big bang before landing on the earth. The whole world was shocked at the sudden death of this brave lady of space. Millions of her fans paid tributes to her and wished that almighty God shall grant peace to her soul.
Kalpana Chawla may not be among us today, but her name shall forever shine in the realm of space.
Essay No. 02
Kalpana Chawla
Kalpana Chawla was born in 1962 at Karnal, a small sleepy town in Haryana in India. She completed her school education at Tagore Bal Niketan School, Haryana.
She was incredibly talented and eventually, she got a call from NASA to join its space program. She had been selected out of 2,982 applicants.
Her career took off when she joined NASA Research Centre, after which she became the Vice-President of Overseas Methods Altos, California in 1993. In 1995 she was selected as a space candidate in the 15th group of astronauts at Johnson Space Centre.
Chawla first went into space in 1997 and after her flight, in an interview she said. “When you are up there, you feel you are not from any particular piece of land but are a resident of the Milky Way”.
She lived with her husband in America and overcame all barriers to achieve her dream of becoming an astronaut. She was proud to be an Indian.
Chawla was always open to trying new and challenging things in life. She was an inspiration to the millions of students not only in India but in America also.
She had great taste in music and this can be gauged from the numerous CD collections she took with her aboard Columbia which included CDs of Pt. Ravi Shankar, Elton John, and others.
She died on Feb. 1, 2003, along with six other gauged on the space shuttle Columbia, which exploded 200,000 feet above the ground in Texas, the U.S. By the last voyage she had clocked 760 hours in space and circled the globe 252 times.
Kalpana will be equally remembered by the citizens of India, her native country, and the U.S.A., her adopted country for her zeal, ambition, and adventurous spirit.
Essay No. 03
Essay on “Kalpana Chawla”
Kalpana Chawla was born in 1962 in Karnal, a small sleepy town in Haryana, India. She completed her education at Tagore Bal Niketan School, Haryana. She was the second Indian after Rakesh Sharma to go in space.
Kalpana first went into space in 1997 and after her flight, she said in an interview “When you are up there, you feel you are not from any particular piece of land but a resident of the Milky Way.”
Kalpana Chawla by her last voyage had clocked 760 hours in space and circled the globe 252 times. She died along with six other astronauts on a space flight Columbia, which exploded 200,000 ft. above the Earth in Texas, the U.S. in 2003.
She lived with her husband in America and broke all barriers to achieve her dream to become a member of NASA.
In spite of living in America Kalpana was proud to be an Indian. She had great taste in music. While aboard Columbia she took with her numerous CD collections which included CDs of Pt. Ravi Shankar, Hari Prashad Chaurasia, and the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Seeing her competence as an astronaut, she was given a call from NASA to come to the space program from among 2962 applicants. Kalpana’s career took off when she joined NASA Ames Research Centre after which she became the Vice-President. In 1995 she was selected as the Candidate in the 15th Group of Astronauts at Johnson Space Centre.
Kalpana was always open to trying new and interesting things that came her way. She was an inspiration to the millions of students not only in India but abroad also.
Kalpana was the second alma mater to go on a space mission. And she will always be remembered as a guiding light by the citizens of India, her country of birth, and by the USA her adopted country.
Essay No. 04
Kalpana Chawla
February 1, 2003, was the day when the gloom overtook everything at various Science institutions the world over. The reason the U.S. space shuttle Columbia broke up in the air on its re-entry into the earth’s atmosphere. In a spur of the moment, the whole team of scientists with the spacecraft was blown into pieces. Among them was our own Kalpana Chawla who was on that mission as the mission specialist. Born on January 6, 1967, at Karnal in India, Kalpana completed her studies up to the University level in India and went to the U.S.A. for higher studies. She had the ambition to become a pilot and fly high in the sky. In the U.S.A., Kalpana acquired her Ph.D. and joined NASA as a space scientist.
This brilliant Indian-American lady proved once again that the Indian talent lags behind no other people of the world. A couple of years back, she was sent into space on a mission that was a complete success in all respects. She had completed her task successfully and that led to the authorities appointing her as the mission specialist to the campaign at the beginning of the year 2003. All went well and the space shuttle was on its way back to the earth, when, just 16 minutes away from home, all was lost in a bang. As the news was reported the same morning, everyone felt deeply grieved over the loss of Kalpana which was very much our own. It was just like a family mourns the loss of its child. Kalpana is lost now, but the country that produced her still exists, and let us takes a pledge that each of us will prove as good as Kalpana and shall our motherland be proud in the same way she did. That will be the most appropriate tribute to that great soul that departed all of a sudden.
