Kalpana Chawla was an Indian-American astronaut and the first woman of Indian origin to travel to space. She was born on March 17, 1962, in Karnal, Haryana, India, and tragically passed away on February 1, 2003, during the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. Chawla pursued a career in aerospace engineering and earned a Bachelor's degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Punjab Engineering College in India. She later moved to the United States and obtained a Master's degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington. She then went on to earn a second Master's degree and a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder. In 1994, Kalpana Chawla joined NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) as a research scientist and soon became a naturalized U.S. citizen. Her dream of space exploration came true when she was selected as a mission specialist for the STS-87 mission aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia. In 1997, Chawla made her first spaceflight, becoming the first woman of Indian origin to venture into space.