#spaceexploration – by @astro.kenzie on Instagram
Astronaut Kalpana Chawla conducting an experiment on the space shuttle Columbia in January of 2003. Chawla, an aerospace engineer that emigrated from India to the US in 1982, was accepted into the NASA astronaut corps in 1994, and flew as a mission specialist as part as STS-87 aboard the space shuttle Discovery. On this mission, she became the first Indian-born woman in space. On January 16, 2003, she was launched into space on her second space mission, STS-107 on the space shuttle Columbia. She died fourteen years ago today when the shuttle broke apart upon reentry.