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View Full Version : 'Image tarnishing' reports about Kalpana enrage NRIs



uday
February 3rd, 2003, 02:44 PM
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_154237,0008.htm

shokeen123
February 5th, 2003, 01:05 AM
Uday:

If you are a public figure in America, your life is privy to intense scrutiny, especially by the frenzy feeding media. Every accomplishment of yours gets glorified and magnified tenfold. You get interviewed by every Tom Dick and Harry of the Journalism’s “Who is Who,” from Tom Brokaw of NBC News to Andy Rooney of CBS’s 60 minutes, each with a spin of his own. Most often there is truth to every story, however, it should be known that a piece of information doesn’t become “news” until there is something very startling about it! It has to do with the fierce competition for broadcast rating. The more startling and unbelievable the news the better the rating! Hence the hype, and all the hoopla, genuine or otherwise!

When Kalpana (by no choice of her own) became a public figure, she also anticipated the consequences that came with such responsibility. If all goes well, people rejoice, celebrate, take pride in the victory and bask in the glory. Heaven’s forbid, should something go wrong even inadvertently, all hell breaks loose! This is exactly what happened.

Yes, something did go wrong with the Columbia shuttle in 1997. Engineers say a review of computer logs shows one critical command failed to reach the satellite during its pre-release checkout, either due to an oversight by the crew or a computer glitch of some sort. As a result, the satellite never got out of idle mode, its attitude control system never turned on and no science data was collected.

Kalpana was responsible for Spartan's pre-deploy checkout and launch. When Spartan did not execute a pre-programmed maneuver shortly after release, Kalpana attempted to regrapple the spacecraft. But in so doing, she appeared to bump Spartan slightly with Columbia's robot arm or its snare mechanism, imparting a 1.9-degree-per-second tumble. The shuttle was unable to "match rates" with Spartan for another capture attempt and the satellite ultimately had to be manually retrieved during an already planned spacewalk Nov. 24 by Scott and Doi. During a crew news conference, Kalpana told all that the necessary commands were sent to Spartan before its release.

Yes, it is painful to see her image being tarnished, especially at a time when emotions are high, but that’s opinion of just one over ambitious member of the associated press! If Kalpana’s work integrity and skills were in question do you think she would be sent to make the same mistake twice? No, because NASA knew her better than a community-college-grad- turned- wanna be Journalist! So, there you have it! I hope people won’t loose much sleep over it, because some jealous/prejudiced minds are expected to do what they are best at… searching a startling piece of news to further their own career...

Doesn't the fact that such stories are emerging only now (that she is not here to answer) raise a doubt on one's mind?

For more information on the inadvertent spartan mistake review the following:

http://www.cbsnews.com/network/news/space/STS-87_Archive.txt

I am still proud of Kalpana, and none of the negative publicity has affected me at all...

gajeshd
February 5th, 2003, 11:18 AM
Sujata Ji,

Thank you for an indepth account of the matter. We are ever proud of Kalpana Chawla.

arjun
February 5th, 2003, 05:31 PM
i saw the piece too...
but like sujataji said, NASA would not have sent her up again if she has not been cleared first