Top ISRO scientist V R Lalithambika conferred with highest civilian French honour for space cooperation initiatives

The scientist, who was the director of the Human Spaceflight Programme at the ISRO, has been recognised by France for her role in the signing of the first joint agreement for cooperation between the French National Space Agency CNES and the ISRO on human spaceflight in 2018 where the two agencies agreed to work in the area of space medicine.

Lalithambika is also credited for coordinating another Indo-French agreement on the Indian astronaut programme in 2021. Under this agreement, the CNES will train India’s flight physicians and the CAPCOM mission control teams for human spaceflights in France at the CADMOS centre for the development of microgravity applications and space operations at the CNES in Toulouse and at the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne, Germany.

“I am delighted to confer the Chevalier of the Légion d’Honneur on Dr VR Lalithambika, a distinguished scientist and a trailblazer in space technology. Her expertise, accomplishments and tireless efforts have scripted a new ambitious chapter in the long history of the Indo-French space partnership,” Mathou said.

Lalithambika is the second ISRO scientist after former ISRO chairman A S Kiran Kumar to be awarded the Legion d’Honneur of France for promoting Indo-French space cooperation. Kumar was awarded the honour in 2019.

“I sincerely hope that this honour being bestowed on me will spur more and more women to take up STEM careers and to excel in their chosen fields,” Lalithambika said.

“Lalithambika is an inspiration to the next generation of scientists not only in Toulouse but also in India, where she promoted inclusivity by enabling the recruitment of civilians, including women, to participate in the future of the Indian astronaut programme,” the French embassy in India said in a statement.

The Légion d’Honneur (the Legion of Honour) is the highest civilian award given by the French Republic for outstanding service to France irrespective of nationalities. It has been in existence for over 200 years since it was created in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte.

Lalithambika, who grew up and studied in Kerala, developed her early interest in the space programme by watching the sounding rocket launches from Thumba near her hometown with her grandfather M N Ramakrishnan Pillai, a mathematician.

A Class 10 topper for southern Kerala, she is an electrical engineer from the College of Engineering, Trivandrum and a second rank winner in the University of Kerala. She obtained an MTech at COE and a PhD in electrical engineering from the University of Kerala (2009).

Lalithambika joined ISRO’s Vikram Sarabhai Space Center in 1988 as a launch vehicle autopilot design engineer and “subsequently expanded her sphere of activity and responsibility to include the entire gamut of design and validation activities and flight telemetry data management for ISRO launch vehicle missions”.

She was the first director of the directorate of the human space programme at the ISRO in 2018.

“Her efforts were instrumental in the wayforward for the human spaceflight programme, Gaganyaan, and in the establishment of a human spaceflight center. Her contributions include evolving crew selection criteria, training curriculum and enabling the selection of Indian astronaut trainees,” according to an ISRO profile of the distinguished scientist.

“She has designed the autopilot for the PSLV, the GSLV, the GSLV Mk III and later, led the team in developing guidance and autopilot systems, flight software and validation of navigation, guidance and control systems for all ISRO ascent and re-entry missions,” the ISRO said.