Homage to Kalpana Chawla

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will pay homage to Indian-American astronaut Kalpana Chawla during his visit to Arlington National Cemetery near Washington DC on Monday.

Modi will pay tribute to Chawla and other US astronauts who were on board the ill-fated space shuttle Columbia and perished when it disintegrated during re-entry to earth on February 1, 2003.

“During my visit to Arlington Cemetery I will lay wreaths at the Tomb of the Unknown Solider and Space Shuttle Columbia Memorial, in which we lost an Indian origin astronaut, Kalpana Chawla,” Prime Minister said in a statement issued before leaving New Delhi on Saturday for a tour to Afghanistan, Qatar, Switzerland, United States and Mexico.  
 
Prime Minister will visit the Arlington National Cemetery soon after landing in Washington DC on June 6.
Modi will first lay wreaths at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier – a memorial of US Army soldiers martyred in the World War I, World War II, Korean War and Vietnam War. He will then pay homage at the memorial dedicated to the US astronauts, who were on board the space shuttle Challenger that exploded soon after launch on January 28, 1986.

He will then move to the memorial dedicated to Kalpana and her colleagues on space-shuttle Columbia. Kalpana, who was born at Karnal in Haryana, moved to the US in 1982 to pursue her studies in aerospace engineering. She became the first woman of Indian origin in space in 1997 when she first flew on US space shuttle Columbia as a mission specialist and primary robotic arm operator.