Chawla

33rd female astronaut of the world

Birthdate:	17.03.1962
Birthplace:	Karnal / INDIA
Marital status:	married with Jean-Pierre Harrison
Children:	none
Selection date:	08.12.1994
Selection group:	NASA-15
Job:	MSP
Date of death:	01.02.2003
Reason of death:	Disintegration of the Shuttle "Columbia" 16 minutes before planned touchdown at Florida. 7 astronauts were perished: Husband, McCool, Anderson, Chawla, Brown, Clark and Ramon.

Spaceflights:

Ord. num.	Startup spacecraft	Date and time of launch (UT)	Status while launch	Spacecraft of landing	Date and time of landing (UT)	Duration
1	STS-87 (Columbia/24)	19h.46m.00s. Nov 19, 1997	MS	STS-87 (Columbia/24)	12h.21m.01s. Dec 05, 1997	15d.16h.35m.01s.
2	STS-107 (Columbia/28)	15h.39m.00s. Jan 16, 2003	MS/FE	STS-107 (Columbia/28)	13h.59m.32s. Feb 01, 2003	15d.22h.20m.32s.
Total duration:						31d 14h 55m 33s.

Note: The birth date of June 01, 1961 commonly quoted for her birthdate is not correct. This date was given to school authorities to allow her to enroll early in accordance with her oft-stated wishes.
Master of science in aerospace engineering from University of Texas; Ph.D. in aerospace engineering from University of Colorado, 1988; prior to her selection she joined Overset Methods Inc., Los Altos, California, as Vice President and Research Scientist;hobbies: Flying areobatics, hiking, back-packing, reading.
Died in the Columbia tragedy (STS-107) on February 01, 2003.

Ref.: #16, #21 - update: 10.11.2025