During my high school days, she had been my role model; though I couldn’t emulate even a miniscule fraction of what she achieved. Yes, I am referring to Kalpana Chawla.
Just before the Columbia launch on 17th Feb, 2003, she said, “You couldn’t lose by working hard and everyone seemed to follow that rule.”
Born and brought up in the town of Karnal, it was her unflinching resolve that helped her defy all the norms that society had set for a girl during her time.
While sleeping in her courtyard in the summers, she gazed dreamily at the milky way.
And that was when the awe for the heavens struck her.
Hailing from a well-to-do family, she shunned the regular route of marriage taken up by other girls and toiled hard to realize her ambition.
Being unconventional in her attitude, she took up aerospace engineering in PEC, Chandigarh. Very soon, she became the topper of the class in her college.
After completing her bachelor’s she felt, she did not know the subject as well as she ought to. Belonging to a small town, the glass ceiling was hers to break.
She had zeroed in on The University of Texas, Airlington(UTA) for pursuing further studies.
But during her time, it was unheard of, for anyone to encourage their daughter to go abroad for higher studies. It would make the girl ineligible to find a groom of comparable academic credentials. Time started closing in on the admission date, until a family friend intervened. Eventually, her family had to relent and she headed for the destination.
In the very first hour in the US, she met Jean Pierre Harrison, who went on to become her life partner later on. She adapted to the entirely different environment, too soon.
The teaching methodology there impressed her. She toiled hours in the lab. Jean Pierre, who became her friend then, fulfilled her childhood dream of flying a plane. A year later, they got married. This decision was again met with stiff resistance from her family, but, eventually she won. After completing her masters , she moved on to Colorado for her doctors.
After completing her Ph.D in 1988, she started work at NASA Ames Research Center in California. She abandoned the prospects of a lucrative career in the Silicon Valley, as the dot com boom was beginning to unfold at that time.
Eventually she got selected as an astronaut for NASA’s space program.
Her take on life was awe inspiring. She said “Approach life as a stint of rock climbing. If one only looked at the top of the mountain, the task would always seem daunting, and for most of us impossible. Instead, the best way to do it, was to approach it step by step. Making one move at a time, it would be possible to scale the peak.”
On Nov, 1997, she set out for her first mission to the space on STS-87.
Having been absolved from charges of committing an error in launching the satellite Spartan into space, Kalpana was selected for a second mission on 16th June, 2003.
After the space shuttle Columbia made its re-entry into earth’s atmosphere, the events took a horrific turn. The shuttle exploded and along with it, she became a permanent resident of the space.
She may not be present among us, but, her unwavering grit and determination are lessons for most of us to emulate and tide over our glitches and disappointments with a dazzling smile, as she had always sported.
Just before the Columbia launch on 17th Feb, 2003, she said, “You couldn’t lose by working hard and everyone seemed to follow that rule.”
Born and brought up in the town of Karnal, it was her unflinching resolve that helped her defy all the norms that society had set for a girl during her time.
While sleeping in her courtyard in the summers, she gazed dreamily at the milky way.
And that was when the awe for the heavens struck her.
Hailing from a well-to-do family, she shunned the regular route of marriage taken up by other girls and toiled hard to realize her ambition.
Being unconventional in her attitude, she took up aerospace engineering in PEC, Chandigarh. Very soon, she became the topper of the class in her college.
After completing her bachelor’s she felt, she did not know the subject as well as she ought to. Belonging to a small town, the glass ceiling was hers to break.
She had zeroed in on The University of Texas, Airlington(UTA) for pursuing further studies.
But during her time, it was unheard of, for anyone to encourage their daughter to go abroad for higher studies. It would make the girl ineligible to find a groom of comparable academic credentials. Time started closing in on the admission date, until a family friend intervened. Eventually, her family had to relent and she headed for the destination.
In the very first hour in the US, she met Jean Pierre Harrison, who went on to become her life partner later on. She adapted to the entirely different environment, too soon.
The teaching methodology there impressed her. She toiled hours in the lab. Jean Pierre, who became her friend then, fulfilled her childhood dream of flying a plane. A year later, they got married. This decision was again met with stiff resistance from her family, but, eventually she won. After completing her masters , she moved on to Colorado for her doctors.
After completing her Ph.D in 1988, she started work at NASA Ames Research Center in California. She abandoned the prospects of a lucrative career in the Silicon Valley, as the dot com boom was beginning to unfold at that time.
Eventually she got selected as an astronaut for NASA’s space program.
Her take on life was awe inspiring. She said “Approach life as a stint of rock climbing. If one only looked at the top of the mountain, the task would always seem daunting, and for most of us impossible. Instead, the best way to do it, was to approach it step by step. Making one move at a time, it would be possible to scale the peak.”
On Nov, 1997, she set out for her first mission to the space on STS-87.
Having been absolved from charges of committing an error in launching the satellite Spartan into space, Kalpana was selected for a second mission on 16th June, 2003.
After the space shuttle Columbia made its re-entry into earth’s atmosphere, the events took a horrific turn. The shuttle exploded and along with it, she became a permanent resident of the space.
She may not be present among us, but, her unwavering grit and determination are lessons for most of us to emulate and tide over our glitches and disappointments with a dazzling smile, as she had always sported.
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