Why is every Indian proud of Kalpana Chawla?

Kalpana Chawla was born in Karnal, India. She earned a doctorate in aerospace engineering from the University of Colorado in 1988. She did India proud by becoming the first Indian woman to go into space. She was selected by the National Aeronautic and Space Administration or NASA, from thousands of candidates.

Kalpana went as a mission specialist on a space shuttle named Columbia. In 2003, she got another opportunity to go into space- again as a mission specialist in the seven-member crew. But tragically, this time the Columbia broke up on re-entry into the Earth's Atmosphere.

All its seven members perished. The accident was the second major disaster for the space shuttle programme at NASA..

Rathnavath Ravinaik