Dr Kalpana Chawla, the primary Indian-American girl to enter area, zoomed into orbit aboard area shuttle Columbia on November 19, 1997, on a journey that may take her and her 5 fellow astronauts on a 16-day scientific mission.
The shuttle crew additionally included Leonid Kadenyuk of Ukraine and Japanese Astronaut Takao Doi, who grew to become the primary individual from his nation to stroll in area. The three American astronauts had been Commander Kevin Kregel and Pilot Steven Lindsey on the controls, and Winston Scott, making his second flight. It was Kregel’s third area flight. AII the others had been first-timers.
A delegation headed by Cost d’Affaires TP Srinivasan of the Indian Embassy was readily available on the Kennedy Area Centre at Cape Canaveral Florida, to greet the primary Indian-American Astronaut on the eve of the area shuttle launch.
“This can be a proud second for India,” diplomat Srinivasan advised Dr Chawla, including that she had added a brand new and superb chapter to the historical past of the Indian-American group which had made a big contribution to totally different sides of life within the US.
Srinivasan famous that Chawla was not solely born in India, however had additionally acquired her early training there. He felt that her early upbringing and training in India and her Indian heritage should have contributed to her accomplishments.
Chawla thanked the individuals and Authorities of India for his or her affection and encouragement and expressed the hope that her flight would additional strengthen cooperation between the 2 international locations.
Simply six minutes after lift-off, Columbia achieved a primary of its personal, when, on directions from onboard computer systems, it undertook a 180-degree flip which positioned it in place to have radio hyperlink with communication satellites excessive above. Mission management resorted to monitoring of the shuttle by way of satellites as a result of NASA’s Bermuda monitoring station was about to be shut down to avoid wasting an estimated $5 million.
There was a minor glitch through the countdown when a damaged seal on the crew hatch needed to be re- positioned.
Amongst those that attended the launch was Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, who cheered on his countryman on board the shuttle.
One of many first duties for the Astronauts was to launch a photo voltaic observatory named Spartan, which was purported to make simultaneous observations of the Solar with Soho, one other photo voltaic observatory that had been in area for 2 years. Nevertheless, Soho shut itself down on account of voltage issues and mission management postponed the Spartan launch.
Different Columbia programmes included a follow area stroll by the Astronauts, in addition to experiments with vegetation, crystals and metals.
(Excerpts from an article printed in HT on November 21, 1997)