astronaut program.In 1994, NASA selected Kalpana Chawla as an astronaut candidate.She was 32 years old. She’d traveled 8,000 miles from Karnal to Houston. She’d earned three degrees in aerospace engineering. She’d overcome every barrier placed in her way.And now she was going to space.November 19, 1997. Space Shuttle Columbia launches on mission STS-87.Kalpana Chawla—mission specialist, robotic arm operator—becomes the first woman of Indian descent to fly in space.For 15 days, 16 hours, and 34 minutes, Columbia orbits Earth. The shuttle completes 252 orbits—10.6 million miles traveled. Kalpana operates the robotic arm to deploy and retrieve satellites. She conducts experiments on crystal growth and biological processes in microgravity. And she looks down at Earth from 200 miles up. She sees India from space. She sees the planet spinning beneath her, no borders visible, just oceans and continents and clouds. When Columbia lands on December 5, 1997, Kalpana is a hero. In India, she’s celebrated as proof that Indian women can achieve anything. In America, she’s an inspiration to immigrant communities. Young girls—Indian, American, all backgrounds—see her and think: If she can do it, maybe I can too. Kalpana gives interviews. She speaks at schools. She tells young people: “The path from dreams to success does exist. May you have the vision to find it, the courage to get on to it, and the perseverance to follow it.”She’s assigned to another mission: STS-107.January 16, 2003. Space Shuttle Columbia launches again. Kalpana and six crew members—Commander Rick Husband, Pilot Willie McCool, Mission Specialists David Brown, Laurel Clark, and Michael Anderson, and Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon—begin a 16-day science mission.They conduct over 80 experiments. They study everything from fire behavior in microgravity to biological responses to spaceflight to combustion processes. They work around the clock in shifts. They send back videos showing life aboard the shuttle. In one video, Kalpana floats in zero gravity, her long hair drifting around her face, smiling as she explains an experiment. She looks peaceful. Happy. Exactly where she’s supposed to be. What the crew doesn’t know—what Mission Control is quietly monitoring but not alarming the crew about—is that during launch, a piece of foam insulation broke off from Columbia’s external fuel tank and struck the shuttle’s left wing.NASA engineers analyze the strike. Some are deeply concerned—foam strikes have damaged shuttles before. But managers conclude it’s not a critical issue. The crew is not informed. The
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