On January 16, 2003, Dr. Kalpana Chawla – a NASA astronaut, certified pilot, flight instructor, and aerospace engineer – rocketed into outer space aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia. It was her second time in space.

During her 16-day mission, the shuttle orbited the Earth 255 times. Travelling 6.6 million miles (10.6 km) in total!

In Her Own Words...

What is mind-boggling is the tremendous speed we were going at. We crossed the Himalayas in less than two minutes, and then you realise, oh my god, within an hour and a half, we have gone around the whole planet.

It is a very overpowering realisation that the Earth is so small. The atmosphere looks like a ribbon with different colours hugging the Earth.

That lends so much to its fragility. It affected me. I could not get over the notion that in such a small planet, with such a small ribbon of life, so much goes on.