Kalpana Chawla is remembered as:
- A.The first Indian woman to command a space station
- B.The first woman of Indian origin to travel into space
- C.The first Indian to walk in space
- D.The first woman selected for the Gaganyaan mission
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B, the first woman of Indian origin to travel into space. Born at Karnal in Haryana, Kalpana Chawla studied aeronautical engineering, moved to the United States and joined NASA, flying first on the shuttle Columbia in 1997 as a mission specialist. She died along with her six crewmates when Columbia disintegrated during re-entry on 1 February 2003.
Option A is wrong because she never commanded a space station, and no Indian has done so. Option C is wrong because she did not perform a spacewalk; among people of Indian origin, Sunita Williams is known for long spacewalk records. Option D is wrong because the four astronaut-designates announced for Gaganyaan in February 2024 were all Indian Air Force test pilots and Kalpana Chawla died long before the programme was announced.
Read the full article: Gaganyaan and Human Spaceflight: Mission, Vehicle, Astronauts
Practice Questions
View allThe Gaganyaan mission will be launched by which vehicle?
- A.PSLV-XL
- B.GSLV Mk II
- C.Human-rated LVM3
- D.SSLV
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Gaganyaan will fly on the LVM3, the heaviest Indian launch vehicle, modified and certified for carrying human beings and then written as HLVM3.
Read the full explanation →Who was the first Indian to travel to space?
- A.Rakesh Sharma
- B.Kalpana Chawla
- C.Ravish Malhotra
- D.Sunita Williams
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Rakesh Sharma, then a Squadron Leader in the Indian Air Force, became the first Indian in space on 3 April 1984.
Read the full explanation →Rakesh Sharma travelled to space in 1984 aboard which spacecraft?
- A.Vostok 1
- B.Soyuz T-11
- C.Apollo 11
- D.Shenzhou-5
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Rakesh Sharma flew on Soyuz T-11, launched from Baikonur on 2 April 1984, and docked with the Soviet space station Salyut 7.
Read the full explanation →The TV-D1 mission of October 2023 was conducted mainly to test which system of Gaganyaan?
- A.The cryogenic upper stage
- B.The crew escape system
- C.The docking mechanism
- D.The lunar lander legs
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TV-D1, the first test vehicle abort mission, was launched from Sriharikota on 21 October 2023.
Read the full explanation →The orbital module of Gaganyaan consists of:
- A.Crew module and service module
- B.Lander and rover
- C.Orbiter and propulsion module
- D.Crew module and cryogenic stage
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The crew module is the pressurised double walled cabin where the astronauts live, and it is the only part that returns to Earth, protected by a heat shield and lowered by parachutes.
Read the full explanation →