The forty one year old mission specialist was born in in Karnal, India, a short distance from New Delhi. She studied aeronautical engineering in India, then studied at the University of Texas and The University of Colorado, recieving a Master's and a Doctorate degree, repectively. She began working with Nasa in 1988. She became an astronaut in 1995, chosen from a pool of nearly three thousand candidates.
Ironically, the first Indian astronaut was to have flown a mission in the eighties. Two candidates were preparing as payload specialists (the selected astronaut would have prepared Indian food in space, and performed Yoga experiments) for an upcoming mission. Unforunately, the 1986 Challenger explosion threw the Shuttle schedules off, and the astonauts were transferred.
Chawla was beloved in the Indian community as an example of one who succeeds by hard work and study. Chalwa exemplified the principals of the Sikh faith, which teaches equality between the genders, encouraging womento succeed. Many firsts for women in India have been accomplished by Sikhs- Sikh women have been pilots, military commanders, and government officials, setting records and blazing trails.
Sikh Guradwaras the world over held memorials for the fallen astronaut, after her tragic death in the 2003 Columbia accident. At her official memorial, held in Houston, Dr Kamlesh Lulla, head of the Office of earth sciences and Chawla's mentor, said "Dr Chawla quietly, silently but very strongly touched many lives." The memorial was opened with the singing of Kirtans, devotional hymns performed by members of the temple.
