The residents of Karnal, about 140 kilometres north of New Delhi, had planned a party on Saturday night to celebrate the return of Kalpana Chawla to Earth. Three hundred children from the school the Indian-born astronaut had attended were preparing an evening of song and dance.
Instead of the celebration there was ”an atmosphere of disbelief, shock and condolence” according to the school’s principal Rajan Lamba.
Ms Chawla (41) was the first Indian-born woman in space and her fame had spread across the country. The Times of India on Saturday morning had carried her picture on the front page.
News agencies had mapped out exactly what time people should look to the skies in southern Bombay and Madras to hail their countrywoman.
Chawla became an astronaut in 1994 and the Columbia mission was her second trip into space. She said the thrill of space flights, especially take-off and re-entry, was what she ”lived for”.
As an engineer, she said she had been fascinated with the ”nuts and bolts” of making things work since she was a child. She emigrated to America in 1980 and became a US citizen.
Chawla was one of the few members of the Columbia crew with experience of a previous mission in space but her first flight in 1997 had not been without controversy. She was blamed for making a mistake that sent a satellite spinning into space. Two other astronauts had to rescue the satellite on a space walk and several other scientific tests had to be abandoned because of lack of time.
After returning from that first flight, she tried to put into words the experience of seeing the Earth from space. ”The Ganges valley looked majestic, mind-boggling,” she said. ”Africa looked like a desert and the Nile a vein in it.”
Chawla’s parents, two sisters and a sister-in-law had travelled from India to the US to watch her flight. Her brother Sanjay, who remained in New Delhi, had watched the horrific event unfold on television, according to family friends.
A representative for the Indian Space Research Organisation said: ”What can anyone say except that we are aghast at the terrible tragedy.” – Guardian Unlimited Â