KALPANA CHAWLA
PERSONAL DATA: Born in Karnal, India. Kalpana Chawla enjoys flying, hiking, back-packing,
and reading. She holds Certificated Flight Instructor's license with airplane
and glider ratings, Commercial Pilot's licenses for single- and multi-engine
land and seaplanes, and Gliders, and instrument rating for airplanes. She enjoys
flying aerobatics and tail-wheel airplanes.
EDUCATION: Graduated from Tagore School, Karnal, India, in 1976. Bachelor of
science degree in aeronautical engineering from Punjab Engineering College,
India, 1982. Master of science degree in aerospace engineering from University
of Texas, 1984. Doctorate of philosophy in aerospace engineering from University
of Colorado, 1988.
EXPERIENCE: In 1988, Kalpana Chawla started work at NASA Ames Research Center in
the area of powered-lift computational fluid dynamics. Her research concentrated
on simulation of complex air flows encountered around aircraft such as the
Harrier in "ground-effect." Following completion of this project she supported
research in mapping of flow solvers to parallel computers, and testing of these
solvers by carrying out powered lift computations. In 1993 Kalpana Chawla joined
Overset Methods Inc., Los Altos, California, as Vice President and Research
Scientist to form a team with other researchers specializing in simulation of
moving multiple body problems. She was responsible for development and
implementation of efficient techniques to perform aerodynamic optimization.
Results of various projects that Kalpana Chawla participated in are documented
in technical conference papers and journals.
NASA EXPERIENCE: Selected by NASA in December 1994, Kalpana Chawla reported to
the Johnson Space Center in March 1995 as an astronaut candidate in the 15th
Group of Astronauts. After completing a year of training and evaluation, she was
assigned as crew representative to work technical issues for the Astronaut
Office EVA/Robotics and Computer Branches. Her assignments included work on
development of Robotic Situational Awareness Displays and testing space shuttle
control software in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory.
In November, 1996, Kalpana Chawla was assigned as mission specialist and prime
robotic arm operator on STS-87 (November 19 to December 5, 1997). STS-87 was the
fourth U.S Microgravity Payload flight and focused on experiments designed to
study how the weightless environment of space affects various physical processes,
and on observations of the Sun's outer atmospheric layers. Two members of the
crew performed an EVA (spacewalk) which featured the manual capture of a Spartan
satellite, in addition to testing EVA tools and procedures for future Space
Station assembly. In completing her first mission, Kalpana Chawla traveled 6.5
million miles in 252 orbits of the Earth and logged 376 hours and 34 minutes in
space. In January, 1998, Kalpana Chawla was assigned as crew representative for
shuttle and station flight crew equipment. Subsequently, she was assigned as the
lead for Astronaut Office’s Crew Systems and Habitability section. She is
currently assigned to the crew of STS-107 scheduled for launch in 2003.
PERSONAL DATA: Born in Karnal, India. Kalpana Chawla enjoys flying, hiking, back-packing,
and reading. She holds Certificated Flight Instructor's license with airplane
and glider ratings, Commercial Pilot's licenses for single- and multi-engine
land and seaplanes, and Gliders, and instrument rating for airplanes. She enjoys
flying aerobatics and tail-wheel airplanes.
EDUCATION: Graduated from Tagore School, Karnal, India, in 1976. Bachelor of
science degree in aeronautical engineering from Punjab Engineering College,
India, 1982. Master of science degree in aerospace engineering from University
of Texas, 1984. Doctorate of philosophy in aerospace engineering from University
of Colorado, 1988.
EXPERIENCE: In 1988, Kalpana Chawla started work at NASA Ames Research Center in
the area of powered-lift computational fluid dynamics. Her research concentrated
on simulation of complex air flows encountered around aircraft such as the
Harrier in "ground-effect." Following completion of this project she supported
research in mapping of flow solvers to parallel computers, and testing of these
solvers by carrying out powered lift computations. In 1993 Kalpana Chawla joined
Overset Methods Inc., Los Altos, California, as Vice President and Research
Scientist to form a team with other researchers specializing in simulation of
moving multiple body problems. She was responsible for development and
implementation of efficient techniques to perform aerodynamic optimization.
Results of various projects that Kalpana Chawla participated in are documented
in technical conference papers and journals.
NASA EXPERIENCE: Selected by NASA in December 1994, Kalpana Chawla reported to
the Johnson Space Center in March 1995 as an astronaut candidate in the 15th
Group of Astronauts. After completing a year of training and evaluation, she was
assigned as crew representative to work technical issues for the Astronaut
Office EVA/Robotics and Computer Branches. Her assignments included work on
development of Robotic Situational Awareness Displays and testing space shuttle
control software in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory.
In November, 1996, Kalpana Chawla was assigned as mission specialist and prime
robotic arm operator on STS-87 (November 19 to December 5, 1997). STS-87 was the
fourth U.S Microgravity Payload flight and focused on experiments designed to
study how the weightless environment of space affects various physical processes,
and on observations of the Sun's outer atmospheric layers. Two members of the
crew performed an EVA (spacewalk) which featured the manual capture of a Spartan
satellite, in addition to testing EVA tools and procedures for future Space
Station assembly. In completing her first mission, Kalpana Chawla traveled 6.5
million miles in 252 orbits of the Earth and logged 376 hours and 34 minutes in
space. In January, 1998, Kalpana Chawla was assigned as crew representative for
shuttle and station flight crew equipment. Subsequently, she was assigned as the
lead for Astronaut Office’s Crew Systems and Habitability section. She is
currently assigned to the crew of STS-107 scheduled for launch in 2003.