Download or read book Kalpana Chawla, a Life written by Anil Padmanabhan and published by Penguin Books India. This book was released on 2003 with total page 118 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Born into a conservative family in a provincial town, in Haryana, Kalpana Chawla dreamt of the stars. Through sheer hard work, indomitable intelligence and immense faith in herself, she became the first indian woman to travel into space, and most remarkably to travel twice. A shinning career was tragically cut short in the recent Columbia mishap. In this well researched biography, journalist Padmanabhan talks to people who knew her, family and friends at Karnal, and colleagues at Nasa, to produce a moving portrait of a woman whose life was unique.