Though Dr. Chandra is originally of Indian descent, he is one of the Americans selected to join Leonov's crew for the journey to Jupiter. Chandra is a computer scientist and responsible for the creation of Discovery's operational computer, HAL 9000. He is very concerned with determining what went wrong with the computer, and as he is completely absorbed in his work, many of the other crew members aboard Leonov find him unpleasant, and most of them distrust him a little. Chandra is withdrawn and secretive, and believes that Hal is every bit as conscious as the humans onboard the ship.
