ISRO Mars Orbiter Mission tweets farewell message on K Radhakrishnan's retirement

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: Bidding farewell to ISRO chairperson K Radhakrishnan who retired on Wednesday, India's Mars Orbiter tweeted its farewell message on micro-blogging site Twitter.

It read:

Bidding farewell to the one who led me up to this planet. It was an honour to be a part of your team Dr Radhakrishnan. — ISRO's Mars Orbiter (@MarsOrbiter) December 31, 2014

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 10 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 Professor 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 achievements 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.

Also, 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".

(With Agency inputs)