Kalpana Chawla was born in Karnal, India, and moved to the US for graduate school, earning a PhD in aerospace engineering before joining NASA in 1994. In 1997, she became the first woman of Indian origin to reach orbit. She tragically died at age forty when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry over Texas on February 1, 2003. Following her death, India named a satellite in her honor.
