Jean-Pierre Harrison, Kalpana Chawla’s husband, addressing a group of students during a visit to the Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium in Bangalore on June 23. Harrison was in the city to attend the ‘Indo-U.S. Conference on Space Science, Application and Commerce,’ which attracted 500 Indian and U.S. space policymakers and industry representatives. (Photo: AFP)

BANGALORE: Kalpana Chawla, the India-born American astronaut who died on board the Columbia shuttle while re-entering the earth’s atmosphere on Feb. 1, 2003, continues to inspire the youth of her homeland, igniting in them a spirit of adventure and a desire for their own tryst with space.

The first ‘Indo-United States Conference on Space Science, Applications and Commerce’ held here from June 21 to 25, turned out to be a perfect setting to relive her memories, her saga from Karnal, a small town in Haryana, to outer space, never to return again.

To make up for her painful absence, Chawla’s husband Jean Pierre-Harrison and father B.L. Chawla made their presence felt along with three other American astronauts, including her compatriot Sandra Magnus, a qualified mission specialist with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the U.S.

Schoolchildren display photos of Kalpana Chawla that were distributed by U.S. astronaut Sandra Magnus, a one-time colleague of the India-born astronaut who died when the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated while re-entering earth’s atmosphere on Feb. 1, 2003. (Photo: AFP)

Even as the 500-odd delegates from both the countries were busy with brainstorming sessions on space cooperation and collaboration, about 300 boys and girls in this high-tech capital were privileged to have glimpses of Chawla’s adventurous life and her last journey on board the tragic STS-107 flight.

Wearing the T-shirt Chawla wore on her first space flight –– the STS-87 in November 1997 –– Harrison struck a chord with the inquisitive young audience largely comprising students when he recalled her spirit of space exploration and dreams she left behind for others to realize.

“I am delighted to see so many of you dreaming the same way Kalpana did all her life. In spite of the tragic mishap, her last mission was a success,” a composed Harrison said to applause from the students.

While father B.L. Chawla maintained a studious silence as he watched the interactive session getting livelier, Harrison, along with Magnus, brought alive the memories of Kalpana Chawla with a 10-minute audio-visual film of her precious moments on board the space shuttle.

B.L. Chawla, Kalpana Chawla’s father, views a display of the various medals she received, at an exhibition on the second day of the ‘Indo-U.S. Conference on Space Science, Application and Commerce,’ in Bangalore on June 22. (Photo: AFP)

“I met Kalpana for the first time way back in September 1982 soon after she landed at the University of Texas at Arlington. Though it was not love at first sight, we soon became friends because of our common interests, similarity in habits and hobbies.

Our common thought process brought us much closer, culminating in marriage a year-and-a-half later,” Harrison, a computer scientist at NASA, recalled.

Though Chawla is no more, Harrison assured her Indian friends he would continue to love her and carry her legacy for the rest of his life.

“She was and will remain the love of my life. Will continue to cherish her memories to retell her story of space exploration,” Harrison affirmed.

When a student asked what Chawla was doing on her journey back when the disaster struck, Harrison narrated her last moments and said she was doing what she loved most in the company of her six other best friends she ever had in her life. “Minutes before Columbia was lost, Kalpana and her co-astronauts were all smiling, having the best time of their lives until their very tragic end,” Harrison said.

B.L. Chawla, center, with Kalpana’s husband Jean-Pierre Harrison, right, and her colleague, astronaut Sandra Magnus, at the conference on June 21. (Photo: AFP)

At the inter-active session held under the dimly-lit high dome of the Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium in the heart of the city, as part of the “public outreach” program NASA organized to mark the space summit, Magnus, too, kept the audience spell-bound by narrating Chawla’s achievements and her own space flight aboard STS 112 Atlantis in October 2002.

Wearing a blue space suit with the U.S. flag pinned on her left arm, Magnus said luck played a crucial role in getting selected for a space mission despite all the qualifications and medical fitness of an astronaut.

“Kalpana was also among the thousands of applicants who aspired to join NASA. She never gave up till she got selected in her third attempt to NASA’s astronaut training program. She is a great source of inspiration and an icon for the younger generation, especially in India, for choosing the exciting career of an astronaut,” Magnus said, fondly remembering her years with Chawla, who was inspired to reach out the space by small planes during her childhood in India.

NASA deputy administrator and astronaut Frederick Gregory cheered Harrison and Chawla’s father for carrying on Kalpana Chawla’s legacy and said the two symbolized the spirit of science and sacrifice for the cause of space exploration.

Harrison addressing a group of students during a visit to the Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium on June 23. (Photo: AFP)

Gregory, who accompanied Chawla into space during her first mission (STS-107) in November 1997, said he would treasure for life her memorable words asking co-astronauts to join her on the deck of Columbia to share the joyous sight of the earth getting reflected in her retina. “That is a memory we will cherish and honor for ever,” Gregory reminisced in a voice choked with emotion.

During Chawla’s first space mission, over a 1,000 youth ran through the streets of Karnal with banners that read: “Kalpana is our pride and Kalpana is our golden girl.”

Paying glowing tributes to Kalpana, U.S. Ambassador to India David C Mulford said she risked her life to explore human boundaries and symbolized the spirit of adventure that inspired humankind to explore outer space and beyond.

“I feel Kalpana’s successors may already be with us,” Mulford said, referring to the 17 bright whizkids from Patiala in Punjab, who were selected to participate in the final round of a global competition at the NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida, to design a space settlement on the moon. The Patiala students were the only international team to make it to the finals from the world over this year.