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Astronaut Kalpana Chawla’s father passes away at 90
Banarasi Lal Chawla, the father of India’s first female astronaut and aerospace engineer late Kalpana Chawla, was admitted at the Karnal’s Amritdhara hospital a few days ago and he breathed his last on Tuesday morning, said the family members. They added his body would be donated to Karnal’s Kalpana Chawla Medical College as per his last wishes.
Banarasi Lal Chawla, the father of India’s first female astronaut and aerospace engineer late Kalpana Chawla, passed away after a brief illness at a private hospital here on Tuesday. He was 90.
Chawla was admitted at the Karnal’s Amritdhara hospital a few days ago and he breathed his last on Tuesday morning, said the family members. They added his body would be donated to Karnal’s Kalpana Chawla Medical College as per his last wishes.
Hundreds of Karnal residents and relatives reached their residence to express their condolences.
Born and brought up in Karnal, Kalpana Chawla was the first Indian-born woman and the second Indian in history to go to space.
She completed her schooling from Tagore Bal-Niketan School, Karnal, in 1976 and went for a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical engineering from Punjab Engineering College in 1982. Then she moved to the US for a Master of Science degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington and in 1988, she got a PhD from the University of Colorado.
She died on February 1, 2003, at the age of 41, along with six others just a few minutes before landing as the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas during its re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere.
Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar also expressed his condolences. “Sad news about the demise of Mr Banarasi Lal Chawla, father of Haryana’s daughter Kalpana Chawla. He gave his daughter the freedom to dream and reach for the stars, which glorified India all over the world and became an inspiration for other daughters. I pray to God to grant peace to the departed soul and provide strength to the bereaved family,” Khattar wrote on his X account.
