Kalpana Chawla (March 17, 1962 – February 1, 2003) was born in Karnal, India. She was thefirst Indian-American astronaut and first Indian woman in space. She first flew on SpaceShuttle Columbia in 1997 as a mission specialist and primary robotic armoperator. In 2003,Chawla was one of the seven crew members killed in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.Kalpana Chawla was born in Karnal, India. She completed her earlier schooling at Tagore BaalNiketan Senior Secondary School, Karnal and completed her Bachelor of Engineering degreein Aeronautical Engineering at Punjab Engineering College at Chandigarhin 1982. She movedto the United States in 1982 where she obtained a Master of Science degree in aerospaceengineering from theUniversity of Texas at Arlington in 1984. Determined to become anastronaut even in the face of the Challenger disaster, Chawla went on to earn a second Mastersin 1986 and a PhD in aerospace engineering in 1988 from the University of Colorado atBoulder.