Veteran astronaut Sunita Williams and the late Kalpana Chawla’s 90-year-old mother met on Tuesday in Delhi with a warm embrace and a hint of nostalgia.
American astronaut Chawla, who was born in India, was among the seven crew members who perished in the Space Shuttle Columbia accident in February 2003 when the ship broke apart during its re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere.
She was the first Indian woman to travel to space, therefore her passing was also greatly mourned in India. Williams, 60, participated in the interactive “Eyes on the Stars, Feet on the Ground” session on Tuesday at the American Center in this city.
As the nearly hour-long event came to an end, the astronaut dressed in his signature deep blue space overalls and space-themed canvas shoes stepped off the dais and extended a warm embrace to Chawla’s mother, Sanyogita Chawla, who was seated in the front row of the auditorium.
Before leaving, Williams said she wanted to keep in touch because their meeting brought back emotions of the past.
She also got to know Deepa, Kalpana Chawla’s sister, who went to the event with her mother. The organizers announced in late December that Williams, who is now in India, will take part in the ninth Kerala Literature Festival (KLF) beginning on January 22.
Williams, a former US Navy captain, was born on September 19, 1965, in Euclid, Ohio, to a Slovenian mother named Ursuline Bonnie Pandya and a Gujarati father named Deepak Pandya, who was from Jhulasan in the Mehsana region.
Her father was born in India, so returning there felt like a homecoming, she added in her succinct introductory words. She (Williams) is like a family member, Chawla’s mother later said while interacting with them outside the ceremony.
The 90-year-old claimed that she used to come to our home for three months following the Columbia tragedy, consistently staying from dawn until night and providing consolation to “our family in grief.” She recalled how Williams and Chawla used to support one another as astronauts to advance in their same career.
Chawla told, recalling her daughter’s life, She had brought her own treasure. We learned so much from her. What are we able to say? According to Sanjyothi Chawla, she totally encouraged her daughter to follow her aspirations.
“Humanity is the only religion,” Kalpana used to say, and she never adopted any other name. We used to ask her, “What is your religion?” “My religion is work,” she would say, a proud mother remembered with a profound sense of loss for her daughter.
On Kalpana Chawla
Kalpana was a great and gutsy woman and it is difficult to believe that she is no longer with us. She was a couple of astronaut classes ahead of me and, hence, I did not immediately meet her on joining NASA.
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Of course, her reputation had preceded her. When I did touch base at the NASA space centre, I ferreted her out pretty quickly and we soon became good friends.
She was a gracious and unassuming woman. We spent many leisure hours together, took innumerable bike rides, spent time looking at lands, or went on long hikes. And we often flew together in a small airplane.
