Thiruvananthapuram, Saturday, October 31, 2009: Avionic expert Dr K Radhakrishnan, Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) here, assumed office as Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

A senior scientist who played a key role in several Indian space missions, Radhakrishnan succeeds Dr G Madhavan Nair.
One of the key persons behind the Chandrayaan-1 mission, the senior ISRO scientist has already set his instant priorities which would be the successful flight of GSLV-D3 in December 2009 with an Indian cryogenic stage.

During his 38-year career, Dr. Radhakrishnan has played a crucial part in the ISRO’s plum projects, including the recent Chandrayaan-I mission.

He takes on the mantle at a time when the ISRO has big projects lined up, including the manned space flight mission and Chandrayaan-II. Among the immediate missions before Dr. Radhakrishnan is the application of the Indian-built cryogenic stage on the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. He had taken over as VSSC director on November 30, 2007.

He was born on August 29, 1949. Dr. Radhakrishnan belongs to Irinjalakuda, Thrissur. He is a graduate in electrical engineering from the Kerala University. He has a PGDM from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, he did his PhD at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur.