Kasturirangan, man behind India’s 1st moon mission, passes away at 84

Former ISRO chairman K Kasturirangan died at the age of 84 in Bengaluru this morning. He had served as the Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for nine years, before laying down his office on August 27, 2003.

“Dr K Kasturirangan left for heavenly abode this morning at 10.43 am at his residence in Bangalore. His body will be kept in Raman Research Institute (RRI), where last respects will be paid on Sunday from 10 am to 12 noon,” ISRO’s official spokesperson wrote on the organisation’s media WhatsApp group.

The former ISRO chief was born on October 24, 1940, at Ernakulam in Kerala to CM Krishnaswamy Iyer and Visalakshi. Throughout his life, he donned several hats. Recalling his contributions to ISRO, senior science journalist Pallava Bagla says Kasturirangan laid the foundations of India’s inter-planetary missions and 1999 announcement that India could undertake a mission to the moon.

Bagla praised Kasturirangan, saying when India was still under technology denial and sanctions, he paved the way for international collaboration with the US and Europe to be India’s partners in the moon mission and gave them a free ride to the moon.

Kasturirangan was also the head of the committee, tasked with creating the National Education Policy-2020 for India. In September 2021, Kasturirangan was appointed the head of a 12-member steering committee, which would be responsible for developing a new National Curriculum Framework.

He also served as the JNU chancellor and Karnataka Knowledge Commission chairman. Prime Minister Narendra Modi; Science & Technology Kasturirangan Jitendra Singh and Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan were among the first to mourn his death.

India