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Kalpana Chawla was a wonderful person. I had the honor to meet her when she came back to UTA to talk about her experiences. She promised me that when she returned safely from her mission today that she would get in contact with me to talk to me about my career as an Astronaut. I have always had a dream of being an Astronaut since I was a very young child. I have models of the space shuttle all over my room. I was looking forward to have the chance to talk to her and continue on with my dream of being an astronaut. But it appeared to me that it all just came to a halt.
I am going to continue on with my dream with her in mind and the crew of the Challenger from January of 1986. I hope you guys understand how important this is to me, and I wish for everyone on here to have her and the rest of the STS-107 crew in your prayers tonight. Here is the link from the Engineering Department at UTA:
http://www.uta.edu/engineering/
In loving memory of Kalpana Chawla, who was on her return flight from her second mission on this 1st of February, 2003. The official mission clock stopped at: 15 days 22:37
Armando Cajide (Undergraduate Aeronautical Engineer at The University of Texas at Arlington)
p.s. - only if you guys could've seen it first hand like I did this morning, along with the massive sonic boom from the explosition. The buildings and windows shook for a good 2 mins. because the boom was so loud. Seeing the pieces flying apart from the shuttle as it was re-entering the atmosphere. I have seen many shuttle landings in my 20 years of life, and I knew from the moment I saw the seperations occuring that something was wrong. The images that you see on T.V. don't reflect anything at all as to what I saw this morning in downtown. I have never cried as much as I did, when I found out the news that something did happen to the shuttle and that I lost a good friend a great mentor. I pray for her and the rest of the crew, along with their families. See you soon in NYC 2.21.03 .
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http://531.am
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