who was the first indian woman to go to space
Kalpana Chawla Kalpana Chawla (March 17, 1962 â€“ February 1, 2003) was an American astronaut[2] and the first woman of Indian origin in space.[3] She first flew on Space Shuttle Columbia in 1997 as a mission specialist and primary robotic arm operator. In 2003, Chawla was one of the seven crew members who died in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster [4] when the craft disintegrated during its re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere. Chawla is a recipient of the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.
List of spaceflight records NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson holds the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman when she surpassed Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti's 199 days, 16 hours during Expedition 52 in 2017. She returned to Earth in September 2017, having spent 289 days, 5 hours and 1 minute in space.[25][26] In third place is American astronaut Sunita Williams with 195 days[27][28] on the ISS, where she was a member of Expedition 14/Expedition 15 (2006â€“2007).