Kalpana Chawla (28th Mission of Columbia-2003)

 

Daring lives on

Last Journey

              Columbia space shuttle was homeward Ho!

              Crowd down below was bustling so 

No sight of spaceship to be seen

Strained their necks, what does it mean?

              No message yet as time did pass

              Restlessness then seized the mass

Gathered relatives of Clark* and Ramon

Friends too of Cool and Anderson

              To partake their joy, but sorrow shared

Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates
 during reentry into the Earth's
 atmosphere, killing seven astronauts. 

              When 28th mission of Columbia flared

NASA officials with downcast eyes

In 17 years scene replayed twice

             
              Watched their child in heat and smoke 

              No words were said as all did choke

Faulty re-entry or hurtling meteorite?

Falling debris, trailing smoke so white

Space travel mysteries do ravel

              
              Just 16 minutes from earthly home 

              Was Kalpana sent to heavenly abode

*The Crew 

1) Commander: Rick D. Husband, a US Air Force colonel and     

     mechanical engineer.

2) Pilot: William C. McCool, a US Navy commander.
3) Payload Commander: Michael P. Anderson, a US Air Force
    lieutenant colonel and physicist.

4) Payload Specialist: Ilan Ramon, a colonel in the Israeli Air Force 
    and the first Israeli astronaut.

5) Mission Specialist: Kalpana Chawla, an Indian-born aerospace 
   engineer on her second space mission.

6) Mission Specialist: David M. Brown, a US Navy captain trained 
    as an aviator and flight surgeon.

7) Mission Specialist: Laurel Clark, a US Navy captain and flight surgeon.