

After earning a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Punjab Engineering College, India, Chawla moved to the United States in 1982 and obtained a Master of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1984. Growing up, Chawla went to local flying clubs and watched planes with her father. She completed her schooling from Tagore Baal Niketan Senior Secondary School, Karnal.

Kalpana Chawla was born on 17 March 1962 in Karnal, Haryana. Chawla was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor, and several streets, universities, and institutions have been named in her honor. She was one of the seven crew members who died in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster when the spacecraft disintegrated during its re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere on 1 February 2003. Ĭhawla's second flight was on STS-107, the final flight of Columbia, in 2003. She first flew on Space Shuttle Columbia in 1997 as a mission specialist and primary robotic arm operator. Kalpana Chawla (17 March 1962 – 1 February 2003) was an Indian-born American astronaut and aerospace engineer who was the first woman of Indian origin to fly to space.

Computation of dynamics and control of unsteady vortical flows (1988)
