Kalpana Chawla

Kalpana Chawla was born in Karnal, Haryana on 1^st July, 1961. Her father Banarsi Lal Chawla was then a leading industrialist of Karnal and owned a Tire factory. Her mother Sanyogita Chawla, a housewife, expected a boy as her last child, when Kalpana was born. In 1976, she did her schooling from Tagore Bal Niketan school, Karnal. She did her pre-university and pre-engineering from Dayal Singh College, Karnal. She then graduated with BSc (Engg) degree in Aeronautics from Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh. Master of science degree in aerospace engineering in 1984 from University of Texas. Doctorate of philosophy in aerospace engineering from University of Colorado, 1988.

Family: Her elder sister Sunita Chaudhary and her sister in law, Anjali Chawla are ardent bird watchers in Delhi. Her brother Sanjay is a businessman. Kalpana got married to Jean Pierre Harrison, a flying instructor in 1984.

Hobbies: Kalpana Chawla enjoyed flying, hiking, back-packing, and reading. She held Certificated Flight Instructor's license with airplane and glider ratings, Commercial Pilot's licenses for single- and multi-engine land and seaplanes, and Gliders, and instrument rating for airplanes. She enjoyed flying aerobatics and tail-wheel airplanes.

Career: In 1988, Kalpana Chawla started work at NASA Ames Research Center in the area of powered-lift computational fluid dynamics. Her research concentrated on simulation of complex air flows encountered around aircraft such as the Harrier in "ground-effect." Following completion of this project she supported research in mapping of flow solvers to parallel computers, and testing of these solvers by carrying out powered lift computations. In 1993 Kalpana Chawla joined Overset Methods Inc., Los Altos, California, as Vice President and Research Scientist to form a team with other researchers specializing in simulation of moving multiple body problems. She was responsible for development and implementation of efficient techniques to perform aerodynamic optimization. Results of various projects that Kalpana Chawla participated in are documented in technical conference papers and journals.

Astronaut: Kalpana was selected by NASA in December 1994, as an astronaut candidate in the 15th Group of Astronauts. She reported to the Johnson Space Center in March 1995. After completing a year of training and evaluation, she was assigned as crew representative to work technical issues for the Astronaut Office EVA/Robotics and Computer Branches. Her assignments included work on development of Robotic Situational Awareness Displays and testing space shuttle control software in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory.

First Mission: Kalpana Chawla was mission specialist and prime robotic arm operator on Space shuttle mission STS-87. This mission from 19/11/97 to 05/12/97 lasted 15 days, 16 hours, 34 minutes. In completing her first mission, Kalpana Chawla traveled 6.5 million miles in 252 orbits of the Earth and logged 376 hours and 34 minutes in space. In January, 1998, Kalpana Chawla was assigned as crew representative for shuttle and station flight crew equipment. Subsequently, she was assigned as the lead for Astronaut Office’s Crew Systems and Habitability section.

Second Mission: She was one of the seven members of the crew of STS-107 as Mission Specialist. This mission from 16/01/03 to 01/02/03 lasted 15 days, 22 hours, 21 minutes and resulted in her tragic death. The space shuttle Columbia, while returning to Earth, disintegrated in air on 1st Feb, 03 about 16 minutes before it was scheduled to touch down, killing all seven crew members.

India plans manned space mission by 2015

That will be preceded by an unmanned moon mission in April 2008

HYDERABAD, India - India plans a manned space mission by 2015, using indigenous systems and technology, a top scientist said Thursday.

That will be preceded by an unmanned moon mission, Chandrayaan-1, in April 2008, G. Madhavan Nair, chairman of state-run Indian Space Research Organization, told reporters.

However, there was no immediate plan to send a manned mission to the moon as that required a very powerful rocket system, Nair said on the sidelines of an international astronautical conference being held in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad.

 

India plans to launch first space shuttle in 2010 - space official

BANGALORE, August 13 (RIA Novosti) - India is planning to launch a reusable spacecraft for the first time in 2010 and to send a mission to Mars as early as 2012, a senior space official said Monday.

India has been successfully developing its space program in recent years, regularly launching satellites using its own booster rockets.

"Our target [for the first launch] is before 2010," the Press Trust of India news agency quoted Chairman of Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) Madhavan Nair as saying.

Indian scientists have already designed a prototype of the space shuttle to measure parameters of the vehicle and determine future work on the project, the official said.

"The launch vehicle will use a rocket to boost it up to Mach 5 or so," Nair said, adding that air-breathing modules could be integrated into the reusable delivery vehicle.

The news agency said the ISRO is also focusing its attention on an unmanned mission to Mars to study chemical attributes of the Martian atmosphere, and the planet's sub-soil and terrain. The mission could take place as early as in 2012.

India earlier announced plans to launch 15 telecommunications satellites and 8-10 earth remote sensing satellites by March 2012, when the 11th five-year plan has been completed.

Russia, India may jointly develop new space shuttle

MOSCOW: India and Russia could jointly develop a new generation space shuttle for manned space flights and negotiations for the project are expected to begin in January, according to a top space official.

"India has expressed desire to participate in the development of a new reusable manned spaceship and from January next we will discuss this issue with the Energia Rocket and Space Corporation," Chief of Russia's Federal Space Agency, Roskosmos, Anatoly Perminov said.

Although Perminov did not identify the project, but 'Energia' Corporation is reportedly developing reusable spacecraft 'Clipper', which is expected to replace Soviet-designed Soyuz spaceships in Russia's national space programme.

Perminov said India was Russia's privileged space partner with which it was working in different directions and has granted Indian space experts access to many of its ground control facilities.

"With India we are interacting in carrier rockets, their components, dual use systems, global positioning system GLONASS and mission control and ground tracking equipment," Perminov said here at an year-end news conference.

Russia, which launched three satellites on Christmas to commercially operationalise Soviet developed global navigation satellite system (GLONASS), has taken India onboard in further developing of the system to end dependence on the Pentagon controlled Global Positioning System (GPS), which was twice switched off to enable US strikes during the Balkan and Iraq wars.

Russia, India may jointly develop new space shuttle-Rest of World-World-The Times of India

India plans to test space shuttle in next 12 months

[ISRO] hopes the shuttle will enable India to offer cut-price satellite launches and become a dominant player in the industry. Last night officials said if successful the shuttle may, in time, be used for other transport uses, but its main purpose now is to “reduce the cost of access to space.”

The Indian shuttle, currently known by its technical name, Reusable Launch Vehicle – Technology Demonstrator – will now undergo a number of structure and load tests before it takes its first test flight early next year.

It bears a strong resemblance to the American Challenger shuttle, with a tube-shaped body and triangular wings, and sits vertically, nose up, on top of its launch rocket.

ISRO spokesman Mr S. Satish on Thursday night said that, if successful, the demonstrator would “prove the technology for the development of a space shuttle,” but it would be a further four or five years before the country would be ready for a commercial launch.

MISS - WORLD

Miss India

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Miss Bulgaria

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Miss China

 

Miss Croatia

 

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Miss Philippines

 

Miss Puerto Rico

 

Miss Russia

 

Miss Sweden

 

Miss Turkey 

 

HOW to Speed up a Sluggish Computer?

 Are you frustrated by your sluggish computer? With regular use, even the newest PC will slow down significantly. Here are some suggestions to free up PC resources and get that computer back in shape!

Instructions

Step 1 - Free up PC resources by deleting old programs: get some of that unused space back. In Windows XP go to start -> control panel -> add/remove programs. Highlight any program that you do not use and click REMOVE.

Step 2 - Free up PC resources by getting rid of adware and spyware: these two parasites threaten your privacy, expose you to unwanted advertisements and most importantly, slow down your computer. Free programs such as Spybot S&D and AdAware make it easy to remove adware and spyware. Simply install these programs, update them, run a scan and remove the intruders!

Step 3 - Free up PC resources by cleaning your start up files. These are files that run automatically as soon as you boot up your computer. Many of them are unneeded and are only taking up space! Besides removing spyware, Spybot S&D can also help you clean your start up files. With Spybot S&D running click the "tools" button on the left. Then click "system startup" on the left. Uncheck any entries that are highlighted in red, as they may be malicious files. Uncheck any entries of any color that are unwanted. Your computer will speed up as soon as you restart your computer!

Step 4 - Free up PC resources by cleaning your registry. Easy Cleaner is a program that can help you accomplish this. Make a backup of your registry before deleting registry entries.

Step 5 - Clean your junk and temporary files will also free up PC resources. You might be surprised at how many junk and temporary files your computer is storing! Programs such as CCleaner can help you delete these files quickly and easily.

Step 6 - Defrag your hard drive. Over time, files become misplaced and this can slow down your computer. Defragging puts files where they belong! In Windows XP, go to windows explorer and right click your hard drive. Scroll down and select properties. Click the tab named tools, and then click defragment now. Finally, select your hard drive and click defragment. Let your computer do the rest!

Step 7 - Reboot your computer, your PC resources are now freed up and you should notice a significant boost in speed.

Tips & Warnings
- All programs mentioned in this article can be downloaded for free at majorgeeks.com.
- Be careful when deleting files from your computer.
- Be sure to make a backup of your registry before editing it.
- These steps should be repeated from time to time to ensure that your computer continues running well.