Columbia Astronaut Kalpana Chawla is honored at the University of Texas at Arlington where she was a student.
The North Texas university where Kalpana Chawla earned her master's degree in aerospace engineering marked the 10th anniversary of her death Friday as part of the Space Shuttle Columbia crew.
The University of Texas at Arlington marked the anniversary at 7:59 a.m. Friday, the moment when NASA Mission Control lost radio contact with the shuttle as it broke up over Texas.
In front of Kalpana Chawla Hall, a residence hall on the UTA campus, students released biodegradable white balloons in Chawla's memory.
Chawla was part of the seven-member crew that died in the disaster.
NASA held a public memorial service at Kennedy Space Center in Florida Friday morning. Speakers included Evelyn Husband Thompson, who was married to the shuttle's commander.
