Who Was K. Kasturirangan, Ex-ISRO Chairman and NEP Architect Who Died in Bengaluru?

Former ISRO chairman K. Kasturirangan passed away in Bengaluru on the 25th of April. He was 84 years old. A statement from ISRO reads, "Dr. K. Kasturirangan has left for his heavenly abode this morning at 10:43 am at his residence in Bengaluru. His body will be kept in RRI for paying last respects on Sunday, April 27th, from 1000 to 1200 hours."

Kasturirangan was ISRO's fifth chairman from 1994 to 2003 and the Department of Space's secretary for over nine years. He was part of several key missions for ISRO in his four-decade-long career. For India's first two experimental earth observation satellites, BHASKARA-I & II, he was the project director. Kasturirangan also steered India's first remote sensing satellite, IRS-1A.

K. Kasturirangan received the Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan, and Padma Vibhushan awards. Dr.Kasturirangan earned his Bachelor of Science in Honors and his Master of Science in Physics from Bombay University. Kasturirangan also received his doctoral degree in experimental high-energy astronomy in 1971 while working at the Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad.

It was during Kasturirangan's term as the ISRO chairman that the first Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) was launched and operationalized. The first successful testing of the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) also took place under his capable leadership.

It's indeed a giant loss to the scientific industry, as one of ISRO's stalwarts left for heavenly abode on Friday, 25th of April.