The Association of Indians in America (AIA) joins the nation in its grief on the sad incident of the disintegration of the Shuttle Columbia in the Space on Saturday, February first. AIA expresses its deepest sympathies and offers condolences to the families of Kalpana Chawla, Rick Husband, William McCool, Michael Anderson, David Brown, Laurel Clark, and Ilan Ramon - the brightest and the bravest who made the ultimate sacrifice to serve the mankind.

We salute them all for their courage and sacrifice.

"Ms. Chawla was known among the AIA circles as a very charming and unassuming person," said Dr. Piyush C. Agrawal, National President of AIA. He further noted that he was very impressed by Kalpana Ji's friendly nature when he met her during the Asian American Heritage Month last May at the White House. "She represented a rare combination of accomplishment and modesty."

According to Gopal Khanna, AIA's Vice President, Ms. Chawla truly represented the spirit of AIA's motto: "Indian Heritage and American Commitment."

Born and raised in Karnal, Haryana, India Kalpana Chawla's love for stars and for flying led to her career as a NASA astronaut. She earned a B.S. in aeronautical engineering from Punjab Engineering College in 1982. Moving to the U.S., she turned to aerospace engineering and received her M.S. from the University of Texas and her Ph.D. from the University of Colorado. Chawla joined NASA in 1995 and was assigned as mission specialist on the space shuttle STS-87 in 1997, becoming the first Indian-American woman to go into space. In completing her first mission, Kalpana Chawla traveled 6.5 million miles in 252 orbits of the Earth and logged 376 hours and 34 minutes in space.

AIA family will sorely miss her.

For more information, contact Dr. Piyush C. Agrawal at the numbers/address given below.