Koppillil Radhakrishnan retired as ISRO chief

Koppillil Radhakrishnan retired as the Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on 31 December 2014. He was appointed as the Chairman of the organization in October 2009 as successor of G. Madhavan Nair.  

Earlier, Radhakrishnan’s tenure as ISRO chief, Secretary, Department of Space and Chairman, Space Commission was extended by four months in August 2014 till 31 December 2014.

Shailesh Nayak, a Secretary, Union Earth Sciences Ministry, will hold additional and interim charge as Chairman for a month or until a regular chief is named.

Radhakrishnan spearheaded ISRO through several milestones like low-cost (74 million US dollars) Mangalayaan, the Indian mission to the red planet, Mars. The mission 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. Some other milestones include five consecutive successful PSLV missions. Some major feats include
• The PSLV-C11 that lofted Chandrayaan-1, India's unmanned mission to the Moon
• GSLV-MK-III that carried a human crew module to the space

About Koppillil Radhakrishnan
• Radhakrishnan is an Indian scientist who is also a recipient of Padma Bhusan (2014), the third highest civilian award of India
• On 18 December 2014, he was named as one of the top ten scientific personalities in 2014 by Nature Science Journal
• Graduated in Electrical Engineering from Kerala University, he joined Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in 1972
• He had served as Director of National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) and Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC)
• He 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
• From 2000 to 2005, he served at the Ministry of Earth Science during which he established the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) and India's Tsunami Warning Centre
• He is a life fellow of the Indian Geophysical Union (IGU) and is also an accomplished vocalist (Carnatic music) and Kathakali artist