jaladiya:

notable south asian americans → Kalpana Chawla

Kalpana Chawla is the 1st Indian American astronaut and 1st Indian woman in space.

Born in Karnal, India, on July 1, 1961, Chawla was the youngest of four children. 

Chawla obtained a degree in aeronautical engineering from Punjab Engineering College before immigrating to the United States and becoming a naturalized citizen in the 1980s. She earned a doctorate in aerospace engineering from the University of Colorado in 1988, having previously obtained her masters degree from the University of Texas. She began working at NASA’s Ames Research Center the same year, working on power-lift computational fluid dynamics.

In 1994, Chawla was selected as an astronaut candidate. After a year of training, she became a crew representative for the Astronaut Office EVA/Robotics and Computer Branches, where she worked with Robotic Situational Awareness Displays and tested software for the space shuttles.

Chawla’s first opportunity to fly in space came in November 1997, aboard the space shuttle Columbia on flight STS-87.

In 2000, Chawla was selected for her second voyage into space, serving again as a mission specialist on STS-107 in the Columbia space shuttle. The mission was delayed several times, and finally launched in 2003. Over the course of the 16-day flight, the crew completed more than 80 experiments.

Chawla and the 6 other crew members died on February 1, 2003 while Columbia was attempting to reenter the Earth’s atmosphere.

Over the course of her two missions, Chawla logged 30 days, 14 hours, and 54 minutes in space. After her first launch, she said, “When you look at the stars and the galaxy, you feel that you are not just from any particular piece of land, but from the solar system.”

(via Nola Taylor Redd)

nerdyninjanicole:

Who better understands how to live in small spaces than a prisoner? A group of Italian designers and researchers have been working with inmates at a high-security prison to teach them design—and the resulting collaboration has been an interesting new model for a low-cost, multifunctional living space.

As Comodo, CibicWorkshop, and inmates at the Prison of Spoleto started brainstorming new solutions for low-cost living, they were inspired by the prisoners’ own experience of using a jail cell as an adaptable space—bedroom, office, library, etc.—and using objects for multiple purposes as well, like a table for a gym. 

(source)