Kalpana Chawala - NASA ASTRONAUT

• Kalpana Chawla was born in 1961in aPunjabi family at Karnal, Haryana, India.
• Kalpana’s parents were Banarasi Lal Chawlaand Sanjyoti.

Education:

• Kalpana Chawla did her earlier schooling at Tagore Public School,Karnal. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering at Punjab Engineering College in Chandigarh in 1982.
• She moved to the United States in 1982 and obtained a Master of Science degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington (1984).
• Chawla earned a second Master of Science degree in 1986 and a PhD in aerospace engineering in 1988 from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
• Later that year she began working for NASA Ames Research Centre as vice president of Overset Methods, Inc. where she did CFD research on V/STOL.
• Chawla held a Certificated Flight Instructor rating for airplanes, gliders and Commercial Pilot licenses for single and multiengine airplanes, seaplanes and gliders.
• She held an FCC issued Technician Class Amateur Radio license with the call sign KD5ESI. She met and married Jean-Pierre Harrison, a flying instructor and aviation writer, in 1983 and became a naturalized United States citizen in 1990.

Making The Impossible Possible :

• From a very young age, JRD Tata and his maiden flight had captured her imagination. She too dreamt of flying and reaching out to the stars and planets. 
• Her fondness for flying saw her joining the local flying club. She acquired a certified flight instructor's license and commercial pilot's license for single- and multiple-engine land and seaplanes. She also became skilled in aerobatics. Finally in 1994, her efforts paid when out of 2962 applicants for a space mission, NASA chose 19 and Kalpana's name figured in it.
• Kalpana had worked hard towards it. She would say: "If you look up to the top of the mountain, then climbing it may seem an impossible task. But if you focus on the next step and take it one step at a time, then you certainly will be able to do it." That is exactly what she did. She very dedicatedly charted out her course, stuck to the path and took it in stride ONE STEP AT A TIME.

Awards :

• Posthumously awarded 
• Congressional Space Medal of HONOUR 
• NASA Space Flight Medal 
• NASA Distinguished Service Medal
• Defence Distinguished Service Medal