BENGALURU: Spearheading Indian
Space Research Organisation triumphantly through several milestones, its
Chairman K Radhakrishnan retired today carrying the crowning glory of the
much-hailed India's mission to Mars.
Indian space scientists bid a
'sombre' farewell describing Radhakrishnan an "iconic leader" as his
exit left the space agency at what ISRO on its Facebook called "at its
most glorified pedestal ever."
The tenure of Radhakrishnan as ISRO
chief, Secretary, Department of Space and Chairman, Space Commission was
extended by four months in August this year till December 31, 2014 on
"functional grounds and in public interest."
Radhakrishnan, a recipient of
Padma- Bhushan, the third highest civilian award, was recently chosen as one of
the top ten scientific personalities in 2014 by Nature Science Journal.
After completing his graduation
in Electrical Engineering from Kerala University, he joined Vikram Sarabhai
Space Centre in 1972 and rose through the ranks, in brisk space.
Radhakrishnan was handpicked by
Prof. Satish Dhawan - the then Chairman of ISRO, to control and monitor the
Budget and Economic Analysis activities at the ISRO headquarters.
He never looked back since then
and the acme of his achievement was the "Mangalyaan" mission to the
red planet.
India made space history on
September 24 when its low-cost Mars spacecraft was successfully placed in orbit
around the red planet in its very first attempt, breaking into an elite club of
three nations.
The Rs 450-crore MOM Mangalyaan
is the cheapest inter- planetary mission that, at just USD 74 million, costing
less than the estimated USD 100 million budget of the sci-fi blockbuster
"Gravity" and a tenth of NASA's Mars mission Maven, entered the
Martian orbit on September 22.
European, American and Russian
probes have managed to orbit or land on the planet, but after several attempts.
MOM feat gave a boost to India's
global standing in space. Mangalyaan was named among the best inventions of
2014 by TIME magazine which described it as a technological feat that will
allow India to flex its "interplanetary muscles."
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