Cargo spacecraft named after Kalpana Chawla arrives at space

Northrop Grumman's cargo spacecraft 'SS Kalpana Chawla', named after first female astronaut of Indian descent, has arrived at the space station. It is carrying nearly 8,000 pounds of scientific investigations and supplies for the astronauts on board, among other things. Some of the products the spacecraft is carrying include ₹170 crore titanium space toilet and Estée Lauder's New Advanced Night Repair serum.

Kalpana Chawla was the first Indian-born woman to enter space. NASA had the spacecraft named after her for her key contributions to human spaceflight.

Research flying aboard the Cygnus includes the test of a biologic drug that could be used for the treatment of leukemia, a plant growth study that will cultivate radishes as a model for future crops in space, a compact toilet for astronauts to use on deep-space exploration missions and a 360-degree virtual reality camera that will be used to film during a spacewalk for an immersive cinematic production.

Born in Haryana, India, Chawla moved to the United States to earn her master's and doctorate degrees in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas in 1984 and the University of Colorado in 1988, respectively.

She then began her career at NASA, conducting research in fluid dynamics at the Ames Research Center in California.

After becoming a naturalised US citizen, Chawla applied for and became a NASA astronaut as a member of "The Flying Escargot," NASA's 15th class of trainees. In 1997, she launched on STS-87, a 15-day shuttle mission that was dedicated to the science flying as part of the fourth United States Microgravity Payload (USMP-4).