Context: An American commercial cargo spacecraft bound for the International Space Station has been named after fallen NASA astronaut Kalpana Chawla, the first India-born woman to enter space, for her key contributions to human spaceflight.

• "Northrop Grumman is proud to name the NG-14 Cygnus spacecraft after former astronaut Kalpana Chawla. 
• It is the company's tradition to name each Cygnus after an individual who has played a pivotal role in human spaceflight,"
• She was the first India-born woman to enter space.
• The NG-14 Cygnus capsule will be named the “S.S. Kalpana Chawla”, in memory of the mission specialist who died with her six crewmates aboard the space shuttle Columbia in 2003.
• The S S Kalpana Chawla capsule is scheduled to launch on the NG-14 mission atop a Northrop Grumman Antares rocket from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia on September 29.

About Kalpana Chawla

• Kalpana Chawla was born on March 17, 1962, in Karnal, Haryana. She did a Bachelor of Science in aeronautical engineering from Punjab Engineering College in 1982.
• She moved to the United States to pursue her graduate education and in 1984 she received a Master’s degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas. She also did her Ph.D. in aerospace engineering from the University in Colorado, in 1988.
• Kalpana Chawla also held commercial pilot’s licenses for the single and multi-engine aeroplanes, gliders, and seaplanes. She was also a certified flight instructor.
• She lost her life during the STS-107 mission in 2003 when the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated upon reentering the Earth’s atmosphere.