At Kalpana Chawla’s school in Karnal, happiness over Sunita William’s safe return
Students at Karnal’s Tagore Baal Niketan joined the millions in taking an ecstatic sigh of relief on Wednesday as Indian-origin astronaut Sunita Williams returned to Earth after 286 days of being stranded in space. The same school gave the world a brilliant astronaut in Kalpana Chawla, who was the first woman of India-origin to go in space.
Its principal, Dr Rajan Lamba said, “Everyone was happy and relieved at the safe return of Sunita William and fellow astronauts … Due to ongoing school Board exams, we could not hold celebrations in the school, but everyone was happy including students, teachers.”
He said the memories of the Columbia Space Shuttle are still fresh in his mind as he recounted a series of a missives exchanged between the school’s founder and Chawla before she departed for her mission.
“When she was to venture on her space mission, she telephoned the founder-chairperson of the school and asked her to give her something which she could carry as a memento to the space,” he said.
