People

Every person in the encyclopedia.

• Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam — Aerospace engineer who led India's first satellite launcher, SLV-3, to orbit in 1980, later ran the missile programme, and served as the 11th President of India.
• A. S. Kiran Kumar — Designer of satellite cameras, from Bhaskara to the Mars Orbiter Mission, who chaired ISRO from January 2015 to January 2018.
• Dr. G. Madhavan Nair — Rocket engineer who directed LPSC and VSSC and chaired ISRO from 2003 to 2009, a period that included Chandrayaan-1.
• Dr. K. Kasturirangan — Astrophysicist who led India's early Earth-observation satellites and chaired ISRO from 1994 to 2003, when PSLV became operational and GSLV first flew successfully.
• Dr. K. Radhakrishnan — Engineer and space manager who became ISRO Chairman on 1 November 2009 and led the agency through the Mars Orbiter Mission.
• Dr. K. Sivan — Launch-vehicle mission designer who chaired ISRO from January 2018 to January 2022, including the Chandrayaan-2 mission.
• Dr. Kalpana Chawla — Aerospace engineer born in Karnal, India, who flew twice on NASA's Space Shuttle Columbia and died when it broke up during re-entry on 1 February 2003.
• Rakesh Sharma — Indian Air Force pilot who became the first Indian citizen in space, flying to the Soviet Salyut 7 station on Soyuz T-11 in April 1984.
• Dr. S. Somanath — Launch-vehicle engineer who chaired ISRO from January 2022 to January 2025, when Chandrayaan-3 landed near the Moon's south pole and Aditya-L1 was launched.
• Prof. Satish Dhawan — Aerospace engineer and IISc director who succeeded Sarabhai and ran ISRO from 1972 to 1984; the Sriharikota launch centre is named after him.
• Shubhanshu Shukla — Indian Air Force pilot and Gaganyaan astronaut-designate who, as pilot of Axiom Mission 4 in 2025, became the first Indian to visit the International Space Station.
• Prof. U. R. Rao — Space scientist who built India's satellite programme from Aryabhata onwards and chaired ISRO from 1984 to 1994.
• Dr. V. Narayanan — Cryogenic propulsion expert who led the C25 cryogenic stage for LVM3 and became ISRO Chairman on 13 January 2025.
• Dr. Vikram Sarabhai — Cosmic-ray physicist from Ahmedabad who started India's space programme; he chaired INCOSPAR from 1962, and ISRO lists him as its head from 1963 to 1971.