India’s first woman astronaut Kalpana Chawla’s father passes away at 90

Chandigarh, Oct 3 (IANS) India’s first woman astronaut late Kalpana Chawla’s father Banarasi Lal Chawla passed away at a private hospital in Haryana’s Karnal on Tuesday. He was 90.

Chawla was undergoing treatment for the past few days. His body will be donated to the Kalpana Chawla Medical College in Karana, said the family.

Kalpana Chawla became the first Indian-born woman to go to space in 1997. Six years later, on February 1, 2003, she died when the space shuttle Columbia broke up on re-entry into earth's atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts on board.

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