Kalpana Chawla Ocean Journey Scholarship
The Kalpana Chawla Ocean Journey Scholarship is named in honor of the dynamic, nature-loving astronaut who perished aboard the Columbia Space Shuttle in 2003. She chose Carl Safina’s Song for the Blue Ocean as one of the few personal belongings to accompany her in space. While on that mission, in a personal email, she asserted that upon her return, she would meet Safina and devote herself to conservation. The remains of Kalpana’s copy of the book, supplied by NASA, are enshrined in Blue Ocean Institute’s headquarters — a reminder that the power of passionate words can quite literally encircle Earth.
A year after her death, her family and friends established the Kalpana Chawla Spirit of Columbia Fund at Blue Ocean Institute. Using proceeds from the fund, Blue Ocean Institute and Lindblad Expeditions offer the Ocean Journey Scholarship to introduce students who are passionate about the ocean to wonderful marine habitats they would otherwise not have the opportunity to visit. We are pleased to provide an opportunity for selected students to explore the beauty and wonder of our earth and to honor Ms. Chawla’s adventurous, courageous spirit.
“Dive deep down
An aim awaits
Pearls peep – for your hands to reach
Just yours
For years, decades and ages
A door lies locked
A pearl in the shell
A secret in the brain
Open it
Break it
Reveal it
Fly High.
”
—Kalpana Chawla, in a birthday card to her sister
