Astronaut Kalpana Chawla died on this day
The first India-born woman in space, Kalpana Chawla, died on February 1, 2003, while returning to the Earth in the space shuttle Columbia along with six other astronauts on board. Born in Haryana in 1962, Chawla moved to the United States in 1982 and joined NASA in 1988. She was posthumously awarded NASA's Space Flight Medal and Distinguished Service Medal.