ISRO stalwart to educationist: Kasturirangan's legacy to live in space missions, education reforms

From a renowned space scientist to an educationist, former ISRO chief K Kasturirangan put his stamp on key milestones in India's space missions and education reforms, earning him the title of "encyclopedia" in both arenas. Kasturirangan breathed his last at his Bengaluru residence at 10:43 am on Friday. He was unwell since he suffered a heart attack in Sri Lanka in 2023 and his public appearances had reduced since then.

Kasturirangan was 84.

He steered the Indian space programme gloriously for more than nine years as the chief of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), head of the Space Commission and secretary to the Government of India in the Department of Space, before laying down his office on August 27, 2003.


He was the project director for India's first two experimental earth observation satellites -- BHASKARA-I and II -- and subsequently, was also responsible for the overall direction of the first operational Indian remote-sensing satellite, IRS-1A.

Kasturirangan got his bachelor's and master's degree in physics from the Bombay University and PhD in experimental high-energy astronomy while working at the Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, in 1971.

He is credited with the successful launch and operationalisation of India's prestigious launch vehicle, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), and the first successful flight testing of the all-important Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV).

Defining India's most ambitious space-based high-energy astronomy observatory and initiating a related activities was also an important milestone under his leadership. Kasturirangan has made extensive and significant contributions to the studies of cosmic X-ray and gamma-ray sources and the effect of cosmic X-rays in the lower atmosphere.

He is a recipient of three major civilian awards -- Padma Shri (1982), Padma Bhushan (1992) and Padma Vibhushan (2000).

After being associated with the ISRO for nearly 35 years -- and heading it from 1994 to 2003 -- Kasturirangan served as a Rajya Sabha MP from 2003 to 2009 and concurrently, as the director of the National Institute of Advanced Studies.

Under the former United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, he was a member of the Planning Commission from 2009 to 2014. He also headed the Karnataka Knowledge Commission in 2008.

The current National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government gave Kasturirangan the reins of a nine-member committee tasked with drafting the ambitious National Education Policy (NEP) in 2017. Prior to this, another committee was formed in 2015 under former cabinet secretary T S R Subramanian, but its recommendations had not panned out.

Officials at the Ministry of Education remember him as an "encyclopedia".

Kasturirangan was later also given the charge of the committee that drafted the new National Curriculum Framework (NCF), based on the NEP.

He was also a member of the boards of governors of various institutes like the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) Roorkee and Madras and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru.