'Toward the Goal'

Dive deep down
An aim awaits
Pearls peep

For your hands to reach

Just yours

For years, decades and ages

A door lies locked

A pearl in the shell

A secret in the brain

Open it

Break it

Reveal it

On October 27, 1980 Kalpana Chawla wrote this poem to her friend.

"कल्पना" की याद आती है

जब देश के गौरव की बात आती है तो "कल्पना" की याद आती है ,

जब हिम्मत की बात आती है तो "कल्पना" की याद आती है ,

जब कामयाबी की बात आती है तो "कल्पना" की याद आती है ..

कामयाबी का दूसरा नाम ही है "कल्पना चावला"

आओ मिल के हम अपनी "कल्पना" की तरह देश का मान बढ़ाये ,

सख्त मेहनत और बुल्लंद हौंसलो से अपने देश का गौरव बढाये .

By: Shivalika Sharma

Signature of Kalpana Mam...........♥♥

Kalpana Chawla's Signature

Kalpana Chawla

Early Life:

Kalpana Chawla was born in Karnal, Haryana, India in July 1, 1961 to Banarasi Lal Chawla and Sanjyothi. She had 2 sisters, Sunita and Dipa, and a brother, Sanjay. She became a US citizen in 1990.

Education:

Kalpana Chawla completed her earlier schooling at Tagore Public School, Karnal. She earned her Bachelor of Engineering degree in Aeronautical Engineering at Punjab Engineering College at Chandigarh in 1982. She moved to the United States in 1982 and obtained a M.S. degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1984. Chawla went on to earn a second M.S. degree in 1986 and a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering in 1988 from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Later that year she began working for NASA as vice president of Overset Methods, Inc. where she did CFD research on Vertical/Short Takeoff and Landing. Chawla held a Certificated Flight Instructor rating for airplanes, gliders and Commercial Pilot licenses for single and multi-engine airplanes, seaplanes and gliders. She held an FCC issued Technician Class Amateur Radio license.

NASA Career:

Kalpana Chawla joined the NASA 'Astronaut Corps' in March 1995 and was selected for her first flight in 1996. She spoke the following words while traveling in the weightlessness of space, "You are just your intelligence". She had traveled 10.4 million km, as many as 252 times around the Earth.

Her first space mission began on November 19, 1997 as part of the six-astronaut crew that flew the Space Shuttle Columbia flight STS-87. Chawla was the first Indian-born woman and the second Indian person to fly in space, following cosmonaut Rakesh Sharma who flew in 1984 in a spacecraft. On her first mission Chawla traveled over 10.4 million miles in 252 orbits of the earth, logging more than 372 hours in space. During STS-87, she was responsible for deploying the Spartan Satellite which malfunctioned, necessitating a spacewalk by Winston Scott and Takao Doi to capture the satellite. A five-month NASA investigation fully exonerated Chawla by identifying errors in software interfaces and the defined procedures of flight crew and ground control.

After the completion of STS-87 post-flight activities, Chawla was assigned to technical positions in the astronaut office, her performance in which was recognized with a special award from her peers.

Chawla in the space shuttle simulator

In 2000 she was selected for her second flight as part of the crew of STS-107. This mission was repeatedly delayed due to scheduling conflicts and technical problems such as the July 2002 discovery of cracks in the shuttle engine flow liners. On January 16, 2003, Chawla finally returned to space aboard Columbiaon the ill-fated STS-107 mission. Chawla's responsibilities included the microgravity experiments, for which the crew conducted nearly 80 experiments studying earth and space science, advanced technology development, and astronaut health and safety.

Death:

Chawla died in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster which occurred on February 1, 2003, when the Space Shuttle disintegrated over Texas during re-entryinto the Earth's atmosphere, with the loss of all seven crew members, shortly before it was scheduled to conclude its 28th mission, STS-107.

"Kalpana"

                                                                
Ab sirf Kalpana ban kar reh gayi hai vo Kalpana,
Karnal mein janmi, vo kalpanao ki Kalpana.
Meri kavita ki har pankati ki prerna hai vo Kalpana,
Jeevan ke kisi pehlu ko jhinjhod gayi vo Kalpana.

Sapno ko dekha, aur sakaar kiya usne,
Apne desh ko vishwa mein, ek naya mukaam diya jisne,
Dekha karti thi vo syaamal nabh mein taaron ka sundar sansaar,
Chhoona chahti thi apne khwabon ko ja kar kshitij paar,
Sachi lagan se, kadi mehnat se, bachpan se hi tha use pyaar.

Yahi tamanna thi ke jana hai, bas Jana hai, taaron ke us paar,
Kalpana ki kalpana ka Coloumbia mein hua swapan sakaar,
Chhoo liya usne apne sapno ka vo pyaara sa sansaar.

Par niyati ko shayad kuch aur hi tha intezaar,
Usi nabh mein, usi kshitij mein taro ke jhurmut mein,
sadaa ke liye samaa gya, Kalpana ka sansaar.

Khud ko vileen kar usi nabh mein vo bhi tara ban gyi,
Is jameen ki laakhon kalpanao ki vo prerna ka sahara ban gayi.

Pucho apne aap se, jhaanko apne antarman mein,
Shayad tum mein bhi chhupi ho, us jaisi hi koi kalpana.

Sakaar karo, sakaar karo us Kalpana ki vo adhoori kalpana.

                                                            By:Anju Sharma  
                                                 (International Public School Kurali)