ISRO former chairman Dr K Kasturirangan passed away in Bengaluru on Friday. The 84-year-old space scientist was suffering with age related ailments and breathed last at his residence, leaving behind an illustrious legacy.
Dr Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan was born on 24 October 1940 in Ernakulam in Kerala in a family of well educated persons. He did his PG in Physics from University of Mumbai and Ph.D in high energy astronomy from Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad. Later owing to excellence in academics and research, went on to become the Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
Dr Kasturirangan is one among the longest serving chairmen of famed ISRO as he led the all-important organisation for 9 years from 1994 to 2003. His tenure as ISRO chairman marked several important milestones and led to India becoming self reliant in the field of space research.
It was during Dr Kasturirangan’s tenure as ISRO chairman that improved spacecrafts in the INSAT series were developed, and improvement of earth observation satellites was done. Important milestones in PLSVs and GSLV were also achieved while he was the chief of ISRO.
Besides serving as ISRO chairman, Dr Kasturiranagan also served as Chairman of Space Commission, Secretary of Department of Space, GoI. Later, Dr Kasturirangan headed the Committee formed to prepare National Education Policy 2020.
Recognising Dr Kasturirangan’s contributions to the field of space science, Indian Government honoured him with the second highest civilian honour Padma Vibhushan in the year 2000.
