Kalpana Chawla 'Kalpana Chawla' (July 1, 1961 - February 1, 2003) was an astronaut and space shuttle mission specialist

of STS-107 (Columbia) who was killed when the craft disintegrated after reentry into the Earth's atmosphere. Early Life Chawla was born in Karnal, Haryana, India. Her interest in flight was inspired by J. R. D. Tata, India's first pilot. Education Chawla studied aeronautical engineering at the Punjab Engineering College in 1982 where she earned her Bachelor of Science degree. Thereafter she moved to the United States to obtain a Master of Science degree in aerospace engineering from University of Texas (1984). Dr. Chawla earned a doctorate in aerospace engineering from University of Colorado in 1988. That same year she began working for NASAs Ames Research Center. Kalpana Chawla became a naturalized USA citizen, and married JeanPierre Harrison, a freelance flying instructor. Chawla held a certified flight instructor's license with airplane and glider ratings, and has commercial pilot's licenses for single and multiengine land and seaplanes. NASA Career Dr. Chawla entered NASA's astronaut program in 1994 and was selected for flight in 1996 . Chawla's first mission to space began on November 19, 1997 as part of the 6 astronaut crew that flew the Space Shuttle Columbia Flight STS-87. Chawla was the first Indian-born woman in space, as well as the first IndianAmerican in space. (She was the second person from India to fly into space, after cosmonaut Rakesh Sharma who went into space in 1984 in a Soviet spacecraft.) On her first mission Chawla travelled over 6.5 million miles in 252 orbits of the earth, logging more than 375 hours in space. During STS-87, she was responsible for deploying the Spartan Satellite which malfunctioned forcing two other astronauts to go on a spacewalk to capture the solar satellite. A fivemonth NASA investigation blamed the error on the flight crew and ground control. She was fully exonerated (although this did not stop some reporters from making disrespectful comments about her involvement in the mishap in the days after her death in the explosion of the final Columbia mission). After being selected for a second flight, Chawla lived at the Lyndon B Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, undergoing extensive training. Chawla's mission got delayed in July 2002 when NASA engineers identified three cracks on the shuttle's second engine's liquid hydrogen flow liner. Over six months later the shuttle was cleared and she returned to space in the ill-fated STS-107 mission. Chawla was dedicated to the scientific goals of SPACEHAB/FREESTAR microgravity research mission, for which the crew conducted nearly 80 experiments studying earth and space science, advance technology development, and astronaut health and safety.

Personal Characteristics Chawla was a strict vegetarian. On her mission, she carried a white silk banner as part of a worldwide campaign to honor teachers, as well as nearly two dozen CDs, including ones by Abida Parveen, Yehudi Menuhin, Ravi Shankar, and Deep Purple. She went to her first rock concert, a Deep Purple show, in 2001 with her husband. "Kalpana is not necessarily a rock music aficionado," her husband said of a Deep Purple show they went to in 2001. "But (she) nevertheless characterized the show as a 'spiritual experience.'" The administrator for the Hindu temple in Houston where Chawla attended when her schedule permitted said "She was a nice lady ... and very pious." Memoria Shortly after her last mission, India renamed its first weather satellite 'Kalpana-1' in her honor. She died a hero and a role-model for many young women, particularly those in her hometown of Karnal where she periodically returned to encourage young girls to follow in her footsteps. Her brother, Sanjay Chawla, remarked "To me, my sister is not dead. She is immortal. Isn't that what a star is? She is a permanent star in the sky. She will always be up there where she belongs."

Kalpana Chawla: A passionate and inspirational scientist remembered. Those who knew Kalpana Chawla say she was a funny, but quiet person - until she started talking about science. Then the small, dark-haired woman, whom many called "KC," would smile, sometimes laugh, and expound with great enthusiasm about her work. "When she talked about her research progress to me, then she literally spent a lot of time talking about her achievements and her progress," remembers C.Y. Chow, the now-retired CU aerospace engineering professor under whom Chawla earned her doctorate in aerospace engineering in 1988. "When she spoke she was very sort of deliberate," adds Stein Sture, associate dean for research at CU's College of Engineering and Applied Science. "When she spoke she didn't really waste a comma. Everything she said was very purposeful and carefully planned. She was not your typical astronaut, not the flashy type." On February 1, 2003, Chawla and six other astronauts would not be remembered as "typical" at all, but rather as fallen heroes of space exploration and mankind's continued pursuit of knowledge about the outer limits of existence. Sixteen minutes before the STS-107 Columbia's scheduled landing, the space shuttle was destroyed during re-entry. When Miriam Maslanik learned of the disaster, she cried. "I didn't know what to do with myself," says Maslanik, who befriended Chawla while the two were pursuing their doctorate degrees. "I thought, 'This can't be happening. It's going to be okay, they're going to be okay. This is just debris.'" Theories abounded about what caused the accident, and one of the most prevalent was that a suitcasesized piece of foam struck the shuttle's left wing and damaged a critical heat shield. However, on Aug. 26, 2003, the Columbia Accident Investigation Board released a 248-page report that indicated, among other things, that the foam was not to blame but rather that "a breach in the shuttle's Thermal Protection System allowed superheated air to penetrate through the leading edge insulation and progressively melt the aluminum structure of the left wing."

The report also criticized NASA's bureaucratic culture, saying that the accident was not a random event, but rather "a result of the spaceflight program's culture, which had as much to do with the accident as the foam did." The report also found that "NASA's managers allowed practices detrimental to safety to develop." Maslanik believes that Chawla "knew the risks" of space travel, because she was more concerned with making headway into new scientific knowledge. "I had tea with her once, and she wasn't afraid," Maslanik says. "She loved what she did. I think if she was looking down at us, she would say, 'All right, this is enough, get back to science.'" Chawla was born in Karnal, India, and while a student in her native country, she apparently developed a love of flying. She earned her bachelor's degree in aeronautical engineering in 1982 from Punjab Engineering College in India. After immigrating to the United States, Chawla attended the University of Texas, where she earned her master's degree in aerospace engineering in 1984. When Chawla came to CU, Maslanik remembers that her friend started her doctoral program in mechanical engineering. But after taking Chow's aerospace engineering course, Chawla made a decision that Maslanik calls "pretty risky and pretty gutsy." "She changed her major a year into her Ph.D. program, even after she had funding for mechanical engineering," Maslanik says. "Most people don't do things like that because it might seem disloyal, or it might seem that you don't know what you're doing and can't succeed. She figured out what she wanted to do and she went for it. I was really nervous for her at the time and so proud of her for doing it." As study partners, Chawla and Maslanik would do their homework separately and then compare answers. "I always knew that if her answers were different from mine that I had to go back and look at mine again," Maslanik recalls. "If we disagreed with the (teaching assistants), she and I would go argue with them because we always had it right and they didn't. It was kind of funny." CU's space program began in the late 1940s and early 1950s with the launching of sounding rockets. Since then, CU-Boulder has developed a close relationship with NASA and other institutions that promote space research. "CU has for many years had a lot of NASA involvement through research contracts and grants, including fellowships for students," Sture says. "At any one time, you'd probably see over 100 different research projects at the university, some quite large, some quite small." In 1988, Chawla joined NASA's Ames Research Center in the South San Francisco Bay area, where she studied complex air flows encountered around aircraft. She continued doing research in the area of powered-lift computational fluid dynamics until 1993, when she became vice president and research scientist at Overset Methods, Inc., in Los Altos, Calif. NASA selected Chawla as an astronaut candidate in December 1994. Maslanik remembers being a reference for Chawla's security clearance and wondering whether her answers about her friend were believable. "They asked me if she did drugs - no; if she drank alcohol - no," Maslanik says. "I was afraid they might think I was lying because nobody could be that perfect, but she really was a very good person. She was honest, hardworking and a good role model for everybody."

Because she held a certificated flight instructor's license and a commercial pilot's license, Chawla was prepared to meet NASA's requirement that mission specialist applicants have at least 1,000 hours of pilotin-command time in a jet aircraft. She was also required to pass a NASA Class 1 space physical, which specifies that, among other things, astronauts have 20/70 vision or better uncorrected, blood pressure that measures 140/90 in a sitting position and height between 64 and 76 inches. As an astronaut candidate, Chawla spent year training for a space shuttle mission. She was required to read manuals and take computer-based training lessons to learn how to use the shuttle's Orbiter systems ranging from propulsion to environmental control. Learning the shuttle's vehicle operations associated with the major flight phases (prelaunch, ascent, orbit operations, entry and landing) was also a significant part of the training. Additionally, Chawla learned how to handle weightlessness in a controlled neutral buoyancy water tank that simulates the zero gravity condition of space. Her first flight mission was in 1997 on the STS-87 Columbia. On her second and final Columbia flight, Chawla spent two weeks operating student projects that were built and tested at CU-Boulder. Those projects were designed to study the mechanics of raw materials in space, says Sture, who was assisting with the research project from Kennedy Space Center when the Columbia perished. The flight was postponed for about a year because of mechanical testing and scheduling problems, so when the Columbia finally launched, Sture says the crew was "optimistic." He remembers how meticulously Chawla would describe her observations of the experiments. "She was a tremendous human being, highly accomplished and dedicated," Sture says. "But she was still very much connected to her family and her past. She came from a very poor region in India, and the fact that she made it all the way to her graduate studies here and into NASA is really unprecedented."

Abdul Kalam
Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam ( born 15 October 1931) usually referred to as A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, is a renowned aerospace engineer, professor (of Aerospace engineering), and first Chancellor of the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology Thiruvananthapuram (IIST), who served as the 11th President of India from 2002 to 2007.[1] During his term as President, he was popularly known as the People's President. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honor in 1997. Before his term as India's president, he worked as an aerospace engineer with Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) and Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). He is popularly known as the Missile Man of India for his work on the development of ballistic missile and space rocket technology.[4] Kalam played a pivotal organizational, technical and political role in India's Pokhran-II nuclear tests in 1998, the first since the original nuclear test by India in 1974. Kalam has even been circled with various controversies as many scientific experts called him a man with no authority over "nuclear physics" and a man who just carried the works of Homi J. Bhabha and Vikram Sarabhai.[5] He is currently a visiting professor at Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Chancellor of Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology Thiruvananthapuram, a professor of Aerospace Engineering at Anna University (Chennai), a visiting professor at Indian Institute of Management Indore, and an adjunct/visiting faculty at many other academic and research institutions across India. In May 2011, Kalam launched his mission for the youth of the nation called the What Can I Give Movement. Kalam better known as a scientist also has special interest in the field of arts like writing Tamil poems, and also playing the music instrument Veenai.

Early life and education Kalam spent most of his childhood running into financial problems and started working at an early age to supplement his family's income. Kalam was brought up in a multi-religious, tolerant society, with Kalam strictly following his religious routine. Kalam, as a child, had a tough routine he would start his day by getting up at 4:00 am; study and review his homework before going to school to attend the mathematics class as his first class of the day. After completing school, Kalam along with his cousin Samsuddin Kalam distributed papers in order to financially contribute to his father's income. In his school years, Kalam was described as a mediocre student who had average grades in his class, but a bright and hardworking student who had a strong desire to learn. Kalam spent hours on his studies, especially in mathematics, and his teachers always regarded him as a student who made an effort in his studies. After completing his school education, Kalam went on to attend the Saint Joseph's College, Tiruchirappalli where he graduated in Physics in 1954 but towards the end he was not enthusiastic about seeing himself as a physicist. Kalam soon discovered aerospace engineering at Madras, and he regretted the loss of the four years spent in physics. In 1955, Kalam moved to Madras and began taking courses on Aerospace engineering. While Kalam was working on a senior class project, the Dean of the Engineering came by to see Kalam's progress. The Dean was dissatisfied with Kalam's progress and said that his scholarship would be revoked if the project wasn't finished within the next two days. Kalam worked tirelessly on his project, and met the deadline. His tireless effort impressed the Dean who said, "It was a test, and under extreme stress, Kalam met a difficult deadline to complete the project". Career as scientist After graduation from Madras Institute of Technology (MIT Chennai) in 1960, Kalam joined Aeronautical Development Establishment of DRDO as a chief scientist. There, Kalam started his career by designing a small helicopter for the Indian Army, but remained unconvinced with the choice of his job.[9] Kalam was also part of the INCOSPAR committee working under Vikram Sarabhai. In 1969, Kalam was transferred to the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) where he was the projectdirector of India's first indigenous Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-III). Joining ISRO was one of Kalam's biggest achievements in life and he is said to have found himself when he started to work on the SLV project. However, Kalam first started work on an expandable rocket project independently at DRDO in 1965.[10] In 1969, Kalam received the government's approval and expanded the program to many engineers. In 1979, the first maiden flight of this project was made and in 1980, country's first satellite Rohini was launched with this rocket.[10] From 1970s and 1990s, Kalam made an effort to develop the Polar SLV and SLV-III project which proved to be successful. In 1974, Kalam was shifted to the Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory (TBRL), a subsidiary of DRDO. Kalam was invited to witnessed the country's first nuclear test, Smiling Buddha as the representative of TBRL, even though he had not participated in developing or even taken part in the test site preparations or weapon designing. Kalam arrived at the test site on the invitation of Raja Ramanna. In 1970s, a landmark was passed when ISRO first launched into space the locally built Rohini-1, using the SLV rocket.[11] In the 1970s, Kalam also directed the Project Devil and Project Valiant to developed the ballistic missiles from the technology of Kalam's successful SLV programme.[11] Despite the disapproval of Union Cabinet, Premier Indira Gandhi allotted secret funds for these aerospace

projects through her discretionary powers under Kalam's directorship.[11] Kalam played an integral role convincing the Union Cabinet to conceal the true nature of these classified aerospace projects.[11] His research and educational leadership brought him great laurels and prestige in 1980s, which prompted the government to initiate an advanced missile program under his directorship.[11] As Chief Executive of the Integrated Guided Missile Development Program (I.G.M.D.P), he played a major part in developing many missiles in India including Agni and Prithvi although the entire project has been criticized for being overrun and mismanaged.[12] He was the Chief Scientific Adviser to the Prime Minister and the Secretary of Defense Research and Development Organization from July 1992 to December 1999. The Pokhran-II nuclear tests were conducted during this period where he played an intensive political and technological role. Kalam served as the Chief Project Coordinator, along with R. Chidambaram during the testing phase. Photos and snapshots of him taken by the Media elevated Kalam as the country's top nuclear scientist although Kalam was not directly involved with the nuclear program at the time.

Former President APJ Abdul Kalam: 'A Leader Should Know How to Manage Failure'
India Knowledge@Wharton: Since our publication is called Knowledge@Wharton, could you tell us something about knowledge? Kalam: I've written a four-line, poem-like thing called "Creativity." It goes like this: "Learning gives creativity. Creativity leads to thinking. Thinking provides knowledge. Knowledge makes you great." I have made at least a million children repeat these lines. I am very happy that Wharton has created Knowledge@Wharton; it's a beautiful idea. My greetings to all of you. India Knowledge@Wharton: Perhaps we could begin by talking about your own past. You were born in Rameswaram in 1931. What are the biggest differences between India as it was then and India today? Kalam: Since then I have orbited the sun 76 times. I have seen when I was a young boy the Second World War coming to an end, and the effect of war and injuries. I saw India attain her freedom in August 1947; I saw the economic ascent phase of India [beginning in] 1991. I have worked with visionaries like Prof. Vikram Sarabhai. I have seen the green revolution, the white revolution, and the telecom revolution; I have also seen the growth of information and communication technologies (ICT), as well as India's successes in the space program and self-sufficiency in strategic weaponry. These are some of the things I have witnessed. Of course, we have a long way to go. Since we have to bring smiles to the faces of more than one billion people, we have many challenges ahead. India Knowledge@Wharton: After studying aeronautics at the Madras Institute of Technology, you were one of India's top scientists at the Defense Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and then at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). You helped launch several successful missiles, which led to your getting the nickname, "Missile Man." What challenges were involved in getting this program going and leading it successfully? Kalam: I worked for ISRO for about 20 years. My team and I worked to put India's first satellite into space. Then our team took up the Integrated Guided Missile Development Program. These were youthful teams that worked with me, and they have gone on to take up much larger projects. These in turn have led to great value addition in areas such as technology, infrastructure and, above all, human resources. One of the important lessons I learned in the space and missile program was not just how to handle success but how to deal with failure. Wharton is in the management environment. I would like young people to understand how they should manage failure. In any project you take up, you will face problems.

These problems should not become the captain of the project chief; the project chief should be the captain of the problems and defeat the problems. India Knowledge@Wharton: You were actively involved in India's nuclear weapons tests in 1998. Could you tell us about that experience and the lessons you learned? Kalam: The main lesson I learned was how multiple technical teams and departments of the government of India could work together for a great mission as an industrial partnership. It was a great experience. India Knowledge@Wharton: You are known to be deeply spiritual. Did you ever feel conflicted, or guilty, about developing missiles and nuclear weapons? Why, or why not? Kalam: I realize that for my country's development, peace is essential. Peace comes from strength -because strength respects strength. That is how our weaponized missiles were born. You need strength to keep the nation peaceful, so that you can focus on the necessary developmental missions. That is how I see it. India Knowledge@Wharton: How did you come to become India's President in July 2002? What leadership qualities does one need to lead a country as large, complex and chaotic as India? Kalam: Well, I won't call India chaotic, because order comes from disorder. That is what is happening now. I was elected President of India -- from 2002 to 2007 -- through a well-structured election process. Any leadership -- whether it is political leadership or leadership in technology -- requires that the leader have six traits. What are these traits? First, the leader must have vision. Without vision, you cannot be a leader. Second, the leader must be able to travel into an unexplored path. Normally the tendency is for people to travel along well-laid out ways. Third, the leader must know how to manage success, and even more importantly, failure. India Knowledge@Wharton: Could you give an example, from your own experience, of how leaders should manage failure? Kalam: Let me tell you about my experience. In 1973 I became the project director of India's satellite launch vehicle program, commonly called the SLV-3. Our goal was to put India's "Rohini" satellite into orbit by 1980. I was given funds and human resources -- but was told clearly that by 1980 we had to launch the satellite into space. Thousands of people worked together in scientific and technical teams towards that goal. By 1979 -- I think the month was August -- we thought we were ready. As the project director, I went to the control center for the launch. At four minutes before the satellite launch, the computer began to go through the checklist of items that needed to be checked. One minute later, the computer program put the launch on hold; the display showed that some control components were not in order. My experts -- I had four or five of them with me -- told me not to worry; they had done their calculations and there was enough reserve fuel. So I bypassed the computer, switched to manual mode, and launched the rocket. In the first stage, everything worked fine. In the second stage, a problem developed. Instead of the satellite going into orbit, the whole rocket system plunged into the Bay of Bengal. It was a big failure.

That day, the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization, Prof. Satish Dhawan, had called a press conference. The launch was at 7:00 am, and the press conference -- where journalists from around the world were present -- was at 7:45 am at ISRO's satellite launch range in Sriharikota [in Andhra Pradesh in southern India]. Prof. Dhawan, the leader of the organization, conducted the press conference himself. He took responsibility for the failure -- he said that the team had worked very hard, but that it needed more technological support. He assured the media that in another year, the team would definitely succeed. Now, I was the project director, and it was my failure, but instead, he took responsibility for the failure as chairman of the organization. The next year, in July 1980, we tried again to launch the satellite -- and this time we succeeded. The whole nation was jubilant. Again, there was a press conference. Prof. Dhawan called me aside and told me, "You conduct the press conference today." I learned a very important lesson that day. When failure occurred, the leader of the organization owned that failure. When success came, he gave it to his team. The best management lesson I have learned did not come to me from reading a book; it came from that experience. India Knowledge@Wharton: That is a great story; thank you for sharing it. Kalam: Continuing further with the six traits, the fourth trait is that the leader should have the courage to make decisions. Fifth, the leader should have nobility in management. Every action of the leader should be transparent. And finally, the leader should work with integrity and succeed with integrity. All the traits apply especially to the President of a country. The President continuously must be in touch with the people. The Rashtrapati Bhavan [i.e., the presidential residence in New Delhi, India's equivalent of the White House] must become the people's residence. When I was President I travelled to every state, cutting across hills, deserts, and seas. I was in touch with millions upon millions of people. India Knowledge@Wharton: In your vision for India 2020, you envisaged that differences between the urban areas and the countryside would gradually disappear. Could you explain your concept of "PURA" and how that brings about this transformation? Kalam: The concept of PURA -- which stands for "Providing Urban amenities in Rural Areas" -- is about giving a cluster of villages physical, electronic and knowledge connectivity. The idea is to empower the villagers, so that economic connectivity can emerge. We planned about 7,000 PURAs for the country -including hill PURAs, coastal PURAs and plains PURAs. I believe that connectivity is the key to bridging the rural-urban divide. The core-competence of the village will enable the production of competitive products for national and international markets. This will lead to rural enterprises which will create jobs in villages and lead to a vibrant economy in India's hinterland. That is how prosperity will emerge in the rural environment. India Knowledge@Wharton: How can India become energy independent by 2030? Kalam: Today fossil fuels dominate the energy sector throughout the world. The World Energy Forum predicts that in five to eight decades, the fossil fuels will run out because these sources of energy are not renewable. Also, energy costs will go up. Oil is already at $110 per barrel, and if this continues, this situation will be very tough to manage. So I set a goal of energy independence for my country. It's a three-dimensional approach. First, we should invest in solar power. Today solar power is not economical because the efficiency of solar cells is just

15% to 20%. So we should use CNT (carbon nano tubes) composites that can increase the efficiency of solar cells to 45% or 50%. Second, we should use nuclear energy, because India has abundant thorium based nuclear reactors. This is definitely a clean solution to energy needs. The third focus area should be bio-fuels, including ethanol as well as bio diesel made from jatropha [a plant that grows in wastelands] and algae. These three initiatives can free India from dependence on fossil fuels. It will also help maintain a clean environment. India Knowledge@Wharton: In your vision for India's future technology plays an important role. How will social grids -- such as the knowledge grid, the health grid and e-governance grid -- help make India a developed country? Kalam: The idea is that the knowledge grid empowers the village citizens with skill and knowledge. The health grid brings the super-specialty healthcare that is available in the cities to the doorsteps of rural citizens. And the e-governance grid brings transparent governance to the citizens. All these grids lead to economic growth and social transformation. India Knowledge@Wharton: During your years as India's president, what was the biggest leadership challenge that you faced and how did you overcome it? Kalam: I returned the Office of Profit Bill to the Parliament. The reason was that I felt there was no transparent system for determining whether a post was an office of profit. That was a major decision. I studied the bill and returned it to the parliament for reconsideration. It created its own dynamic, but I felt I did the right thing. India Knowledge@Wharton: If you could rewind and replay your years as President, what might you do differently? Is there anything you wanted to accomplish that you were unable to do? Kalam: Last year I came up with an idea: I felt I should power the Rashtrapati Bhavan completely with solar power. For that I worked on a proposal after completing four years of my Presidential term -- and at the beginning of the fifth year. But then the environmental agencies raised a lot of questions. Before I could answer them, my term ended. I would have liked the Rashtrapati Bhavan to be the first home in India to be powered completely by solar energy. India Knowledge@Wharton: One last question -- you are a gifted poet. Could you please recite some lines of your favorite poem? Kalam: My favorite poem is "The Vision." I recited it in Parliament, and I will recite it for you.

I climbed and climbed Where is the peak, my Lord? I ploughed and ploughed, Where is the knowledge treasure, my Lord? I sailed and sailed, Where is the island of peace, my Lord? Almighty, bless my nation With vision and sweat resulting into happiness.