Kalpana Chawla Featured in the New Season of National Goeographic’s New Series – “Mega Icons”
She always dreamt of the stars and somehow I feel she dissolved into the stars that day," her father told PTI in an interview.
The world recognizes Kalpana Chawla as the first woman of Indian origin to fly to space in 2003. No one in the least fathomed that ‘Columbia’ in which Kalpana was a crew member would meet such a disastrous fate. Her father- eighty-six-year old Banarasi Lal Chawla was waiting for her in Houston in her home only to be welcomed with the news that he lost his beloved daughter. She always dreamt of the stars and somehow I feel she dissolved into the stars that day," Mr. Chawla told PTI in an interview.
The proud father recently cared to share some interesting facts of his daughter. He said that Kalpana had a fascination for flying objects and at the age of three when she saw a plane flying over their terrace in Karnal, she insisted to see the plane from a closer distance. With the support of an officer at the Karnal Flying Club, Mr. Chawla made it possible to fulfil his curious daughter’s desire.
“I rode a bicycle from my home and Kalpana sat in the front of it and my son at the back and I took them to the club. And even before I had parked my cycle, she had run to the aircraft that she saw and kept circling it and later asked all curious questions to the officer about it -- ''How does it fly?'' ''How does it work?” he said.
The officer even took them for a ride in the plane. Mr. Chawla recalls that he couldn’t forget the joyful expression on Kalpana’s face since that day. “That day I knew she was born to fly and be among the stars. Stars were her companions. In fact she was so fascinated with space that after being selected to NASA, she used to say in a lighter vein that one day she would be kidnapped in outer space,” the father said emotionally. Her dream of becoming an astronaut materialised and she indeed became one with the stars.
With husband Jean Pierre in 1999
Kalpana Chawla’s inspiring journey will be featured in the new season of National Geographic’s series called “Mega Icons.” The 45-minute bilingual documentary was screened at the #Mami film festival in Mumbai on Thursday. It would include interviews with her parents and close friends.
Without a doubt the story of a little girl from a small town in Haryana to her journey towards outer space would be a hair raising experience. Kalpana Chawla always inspired people to reach out for their dreams when she once famously quoted, “If you want to do something, what does it matter where you are ranked?”