Here’s remembering you, Kalpana Chawla

Space shuttle Columbia is an important milestone in more than one way. With its inaugural flight in April 1981, it became the first re-usable space shuttle and marked the beginning of a revolution in space exploration. Ironically it was the destruction of Columbia during its 28th mission that dealt a fatal blow to the space shuttle programme.

Here’s a brief look at the lifetime of space shuttle Columbia

• Launched on April 12, 1981, it was the first re-usable space shuttle.
• Over all, Columbia flew 28 flights, spent 300.74-days in space, completed 4,808 Earth orbits, and flew 125,204,911 miles in total.
• The ill-fated 28th flight included Kalpana Chawla, the first female astronaut of Indian birth, Rick Husband (commander), Ilan Ramon, Willie McCool, Michael Anderson, Laurel Clark, and David Brown.
• On February 1, 2003, Columbia disintegrated during re-entry, killing all seven crew members. The cause was attributed to overheating after a hole was punctured by falling foam in the leading edge on one of Columbia’s wings during the launch.
• Born in Karnal, Kalpana Chawla received a BSc in aeronautical engineering in 1982. After completing her doctorate in aerospace engineering in 1988 from the University of Colorado, she began working at NASA Ames Research Center in the area of powered-lift computational fluid dynamics.
• Selected by NASA in December 1994, Chawla was the prime robotic arm operator on Columbia (STS-87) in 1997. She and Commander Rick Husband, were responsible for manoeuvring the space shuttle as part of several experiments in the shuttle’s payload bay.