Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has said astronaut Kalpana Chawla will continue to be an inspiration to young Indians.

Indian-born Ms Chawla was killed when the space shuttle Columbia broke up on re-entry to the Earth's atmosphere on Saturday.

We honour all the astronauts who died with Kalpana while climbing the ladder of science Indian PM

At a crowded memorial meeting in parliament, the prime minister led cabinet colleagues, top scientists and hundreds of others in paying tribute to Ms Chawla.

Mr Vajpayee also announced that India would name its latest meteorological satellite "Kalpana-I" in her honour.

Honoured

The prime minister, opposition Congress Party leader Sonia Gandhi, the head of India's space programme and two former prime ministers laid rose petals before a portrait of Ms Chawla.

Kalpana Chawla is to have a satellite named after her

"We honour all the astronauts who died with Kalpana while climbing the ladder of science, crossing new frontiers," Mr Vajpayee said.

He also declared that 1 February, the date of the tragedy, would be observed as a day for remembering the space explorers.

Tributes have continued to flood in especially in Haryana, the home state of Ms Chawla, who was considered a national heroine.

Earlier, Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani said she was a credit to her country.

"For a girl to achieve this kind of glory is of a nature that heightens our confidence," he said.

College tribute

Earlier in the northern town of Karnal, Ms Chawla's birthplace, hundreds of residents prayed, laid flowers and bowed before her photograph.

Karnal residents gathered to honour Chawla's memory

Faculty members at the Punjab Engineering College, where she studied, have been discussing proposals to honour Kalpana Chawla by naming a building after her.

Ms Chawla, who first flew on the shuttle six years ago, was described by one Indian newspaper as "the first Indian woman to reach out for the stars."

Her face appeared on the front cover of the national magazine India Today two weeks ago.

In a list celebrating heroes and heroines who left India to work and live abroad, Ms Chawla's name was at the top.

Family's distress

The day after the tragedy, India's national newspapers all carried front-page photos of her, highlighting a national sense of loss.

Chawla was recently hailed as one of India's brightest stars

"She wanted to show the world that even for a small-town Indian girl, the sky wasn't the limit," one local man said. "We still haven't come out of our shock."

She herself recently said that, although she took great pride in her roots, she did not feel Indian in space.

She said: "When you look at the stars and the galaxy, you feel that you are not just from any particular piece of land, but from the solar system."