People paying tribute to the late ISRO scientist...
Indian Space and Research Organisation (ISRO) scientist N Valarmathi, took her last breath on Saturday. She was known for her iconic voice during rocket countdown launches.
Her recent countdown happened during the launch of Chandrayaan-3, India's ambitious moon mission that created history.
A former ISRO Director Dr. P V Venkitakrishnan took to X, (Twitter), to condole her demise and wrote, ''The voice of Valarmathi Madam will not be there for the countdowns of future missions of ISRO from Sriharikotta. Chandrayan 3 was her final countdown announcement. An unexpected demise. Feel so sad. Pranams!''
Reports said she suffered a heart attack and died in Chennai.
Ms. Valarmathi, a native of Tamil Nadu's Ariyalur, was born on July 31, 1959. She went to the Nirmala Girls Higher Secondary School before graduating in engineering from the Government College of Technology in Coimbatore.
The scientist joined ISRO in 1984 and played a major role in numerous missions. She was the project director of RISAT-1, India's first indigenously developed Radar Imaging Satellite (RIS) and the country's second such satellite.
In 2015, she became the first person to receive the Abdul Kalam Award, given by the Government of Tamil Nadu in honour of the former president Abdul Kalam in 2015.
The Brief. Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know right now.