Kalpana Chawla was an Indian-born American aerospace engineer and NASA astronaut, the first woman of Indian origin to fly in space. She flew her first mission aboard Space Shuttle Columbia on STS-87 in 1997 as a mission specialist. On her second flight, STS-107 in early 2003, Chawla was among the seven crew members killed when Columbia broke apart during reentry on February 1, 2003, a disaster later traced to damage the orbiters heat shield sustained from foam debris during launch.
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