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Bharat Ratna demanded for Kalpana Chawla

NEW DELHI MARCH 3. India's first woman astronaut Kalpana Chawla, who died along with other crew members exactly a month ago when the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated just 16 minutes before touchdown on earth, should be accorded the highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna.

This demand has been raised by the alumni of the Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh, where she received her Bachelor's Degree in Aeronautical Engineering in 1982.

In a Public Homage Assembly held here recently by the Delhi Chapter of the Punjab Engineering College Old Boys Association (PECOBA) to condole her death, Professor V.S. Malhotra who was head of the aeronautical engineering department when she was a student there read out a message he had received from her in January 25 while in the space shuttle: ``The path from dreams to reality does exist. May you have the vision to find it, the courage to get onto it, and the perseverance to follow it''.

In his message sent to PECOBA on this occasion, the President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, said: ``I am sure, the space flight endeavours of Ms. Chawla will always be remembered and will serve as an inspiration for younger generation to dream and to be able to touch the stars''.

Former Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral said: ``In Kalpana Chawla's demise, the world of Science and Technology has lost a great deal, and India particularly, has been deprived of a remarkable personality''.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi's message said ``She showed us what young Indians can do if they are given the environment that encourages their passion, allow their talents to blossom, and reward their dedication and determination''

Those present at the a Assembly unanimously adopted a Resolution moved by PECOBA founder General Secretary Amarjit Singh Kohli urging the Government to accord the highest honour posthumously to Ms. Chawla.

Among those who attended were Kalpana's uncle Amrik Chand Chawla, aunts Sujata Gulati and Kanta Gulati, and about thirty other members of the family. Also present was Kalpana's school teacher Diljit Kaur Madan who taught her for eight years at Tagore Balniketan School, Karnal. Eight of her batchmates at PEC (1982) were also there to pay homage.

The head of the Aeronautical Department Prof. S.C. Sharma urged that the PEC should be renamed as `Kalpana Chawla PEC Institute of Engineering' and given a deemed University status. Prof S.K. Suman who is General Secretary of the PEC Teachers Association wanted a `Kalpana Chawla Research Centre and Memorial Library' to be established, for which he has already received support from the PEC alumni in the United States.

Dr. Marjorie R. Harrison, Exchange Officer at the US Embassy, read out two poems composed by her on Kalpana. Prominent PEC alumni who paid homage included A.K. Goswami (IAS, Secretary, Water Resources), Jarnail Singh (IAS, Joint Secretary, Prime Minister's Office), Prithipal Singh (CMD, BSNL), Dr. K.K. Aggarwal (VC, GGS Indraprastha University), H.L. Bajaj (Chairman, CEA), and P.K. Garg (Chief Wireless Advisor). Journalists T.S. Bedi and Dev Prakash read poems composed by them on Kalpana.

The function ended with a musical tribute to Kalpana Chawla entitled `Kalpana Ki Kalpana', produced by Mr. Kohli and presented by Seema Verma with orchestration by Satish Popli.

Born in Karnal, Kalpana enjoyed flying, hiking, back-packing, and reading. She held a 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 aeroplanes.

She graduated from Tagore School, Karnal, in 1976. After her Bachelor of Science degree from PEC, she received her Master of Science degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas, 1984, and Doctorate of philosophy in aerospace engineering from University of Colorado, 1988.

She started work at National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Ames Research Centre in 1988 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. Kalpana was selected by NASA in December 1994 and reported to the Johnson Space Centre in March 1995 as an astronaut candidate in the 15th Group of Astronauts. 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. -- UNI

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