(Image source from: latestly.com)

The president of the United States, Donald Trump hailed, Indian origin Astronaut as an American Hero, for devoting her entire life contributing her services to the space programme, which has inspired millions of girls to take step forward as astronauts.

The president made his remarks, on Monday as he issued a statement, announcing the month of may as ‘Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month’.

Chawla, at the age of 40 years created a record to be First Indian Origin woman, in space.

She was one of the seven crew members, who died in the Columbia Space Shuttle disaster in the year 2003, when the spacecraft segregated during the re entry in the earths atmosphere.

Trump said in a media statement that, "Indian American Kalpana Chawla was the first woman of Indian descent to fly in space, and became an American hero for her devotion to the Space Shuttle programme and its various missions transporting cargo and crew to and from the International Space Station”.

The Congress Posthumously, awarded her the Congressional space medal of Honour, with respect to her achievements and tremendous contributions to the organization and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), has also awarded her the NASA space flight medal and the NASA Distinguished Service Medal as per the report given by officials.

By Lokesh