Students at Karnal’s Tagore Baal Niketan joined the millions in taking an ecstatic sigh of relief on Wednesday as Indian-origin astronaut Sunita Williams returned to Earth after 286 days of being stranded in space.

The same school gave the world a brilliant astronaut in Kalpana Chawla, who was the first woman of India-origin to go in space.

First Indian to do so was Rakesh Sharma, who flew aboard Russian spacecraft Soyuz T-11 in 1984.

Born in Karnal in 1962, Chawla died on February 1, 2003, when Columbia spacecraft disintegrated over Texas and Louisiana, killing all seven astronauts aboard, including her.

Chawla completed her schooling from Tagore Baal Niketan and went on to get a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Punjab Engineering College in Chandigarh in 1982.

She moved to the United States the same year.

The school, in existence for more than six decades, has dedicated an auditorium in her memory.

Its principal, Dr Rajan Lamba said, “Everyone was happy and relieved at the safe return of Sunita William and fellow astronauts … Due to ongoing school Board exams, we could not hold celebrations in the school, but everyone was happy including students, teachers.”

He said the memories of the Columbia Space Shuttle are still fresh in his mind as he recounted a series of a missives exchanged between the school’s founder and Chawla before she departed for her mission.

“When she was to venture on her space mission, she telephoned the founder-chairperson of the school and asked her to give her something which she could carry as a memento to the space,” he said.

On January, 16, 2002, an email she wrote to the school founder Vimla Raheja, read, “My dear Raheja Didi, Daljeet Didi, Arora Didi and Tagoreans, Thank you and a very Happy New Year to you as well.

It went on “…I would very much like to fly an item for Tagore School on my next flight currently scheduled for launch on June 25th. Same rules/restrictions apply as last time. I should receive the item by April 7th. The item should be mailed at my home address…One suggestion would be a flag with a school emblem with a quote that ties the emblem to education and exploration.”

The school complied with her wish and sent a flag with the school emblem bearing the quote: “Antriksham Vigyanam Anveshanam.”

On April 14, 2002, she wrote her last email to Raheja, “Dear Bade Didi, I am in receipt of the absolutely beautiful banner you have made for flight on Columbia. Thanks…”

In her memory, Union Ministry of Railways established Kalpana Chawla Chair of Geospatial Technology (KCC GT) at Punjab Engineering College.

The Haryana government paid its tributes to her naming medical college and hospital after her.

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