Kalpana Chawla was an American astronaut, engineer, and the first woman of Indian descent to go to space. She first flew on Space Shuttle Columbia in 1997 as a mission specialist and primary robotic arm operator. In 2003, Chawla 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. Chawla was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor, and several streets, universities, and institutions have been named in her honor. The late astronaut is recognized as a national hero in India.
Kalpna Chawla, the first and only woman of Indian origin in space, is someone we all know and are proud of. She was known for being a brave and daring woman, who loved what she did. Her personal life is something not many of us know of, except for the fact that she loved her job. This is her story of how she met her prince charming and they fell in love. Kalpana Chawla had a love marriage.
From the exceptionally youthful age, Kalpana wanted to draw pictures of aero planes. Subsequent to getting her Bachelor of Engineering certificate in Aeronautical Engineering from Punjab Engineering College in Chandigarh. she moved to the United States to acquire her Master from the University of Texas in Arlington. This is the place everything started.
Kalpna Chawla met Jean Pierre Harrison, a young, tall and handsome man, the love of her life. He was working on obtaining a professional pilot qualification at that time. They both hit off really well and become close friends. They were a couple who shared a lot of common interests and likings that they complemented each other, even on the simplest of things. Right from their hobbies to the thoughts that they shared made their bond even stronger. This bond climax to their marriage, which was held on December 2, 1983.
Harrison was support towards Kalpana work and dream is something which will leave we all stunned. Post marriage, the couple moved to Boulder, where Kalpana Chawla selected for her primary care physicians program. She earned her Private Pilot License during that time. She got chose at NASA in 1997, following a 16-days fruitful task. They were carrying on with a glad and quiet life, until the Columbia catastrophe occurred in February, first, 2003. She was doing what she wanted to do, with probably the closest companions she at any point had in her life, they were all grinning and having the best a great time until the end.
Life had to bring this tragic incident in this couple’s life, but their love never died. Harrison visited PEC University of Technology to release Kalpana Chawla’s biography written by Harrison himself titled ‘Edge of Time’. We all will remember this woman as passionate astronaut, but to Harrison the few years that he spent with her will remain forever, because Love Never Dies. She might have reached the moon, but their love has travelled even farther, to hell.