monday, july 10, 2023 at 07:09:27 p.m. edt
Kalpana Chawla (17 march 1962 – 1 february 2003) was an indian-born American astronaut and aerospace engineer who was the first woman of indian origin to fly to space.[3][4] she first flew on space shuttle Columbia in 1997 as a mission specialist and prim
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalpana_Chawla
Kalpana Chawla - wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
affirmative action hire?
6 comments:
To tell you the truth,I don't remember that aerospace disaster--just the one in 86,I believe it was.Reagan eloquently gave a touching eulogy to the crew .
What did Dubya go out and say afterwards--"Mission Accomplished"--and start laughing?I wouldn't doubt it--he had oatmeal for brains.Tough call on who was more mentally deficient--Bush or Biden.
--GRA
Biden. Not a close call.
Did have a high level of education and experience in the field of aeronautics. Her assignment for the astronaut program too did make for good optics undeniably.
I remember three disasters: the fire in the capsule on the ground which killed three astronauts--including Gus Grissom (the use of a pure oxygen environment made the fire so bad), the space shuttle disaster caused by faulty O-rings and launching on a day that was too cold, and the shuttle which burned up on re-entry because the fire-resistant tile fell off. Apollo 13 was also almost a disaster, but an almost miraculous save was engineered as shown in the movie, Apollo 13.
Her ethnicity (and sex) probably played some role in her selection by NASA.
But she had a PhD from the Univ of Colorado in aeronautical engineering. So it was not like she was unqualified.
How many astronauts today have doctorates? Not sure. Perhaps today more do than in the past, when most were former military pilots with undergrad degrees.
Undoubtedly her selection her race and gender did play a role. How much we will never know.
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