Meet The Woman Who Leads India’s Manned Mission To Space – Dr. VR Lalithambika

We have been told time and again, without a second thought that women are difficult to understand. While I wouldn’t want to waste time debating that, allow me to re-phrase that statement for those who hold that thought. Women aren’t difficult to understand, but they understand even the most difficult of things. You don’t agree? Okay, we’ll give you a reason to agree: For some of us, mathematics was a subject we loved to loathe, and for others, it was science that we chose to keep at an arm’s length. Some of us got bogged down by family pressure, and others chose to lead simple lives. However, neither of this was the case for Dr. VR Lalithambika, the scientist who leads the team for India’s first human space flight program.

In the August of 2018, on the Independence Day, PM Narendra Modi set the 2022 deadline for India’s first Human Space Flight. He said that by the year 2022, either a daughter or a son of the country will go to space with a tricolor in hand. Although it wasn’t determined who would execute the mission, one thing was certain: the veteran woman scientist of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Dr. VR Lalithambika, was named the leader of this highly ambitious program. Now, that’s something that deserves a round of applause and a mouthful of appreciation, isn’t it? After all, it’s not every day that a woman scientist is recognised and lauded for her contributions.

Who Is Dr. VR Lalithambika.
With three decades at ISRO as a control systems engineer, Dr. Lalithambika is a skilled taskmaster. During her long and eventful tenure, she has worked on all Indian rockets PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle), and GSLV (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle), and the indigenous space shuttle. The 57-year-old scientist has played a prominent role in the execution of over 100 space missions and was the key member of a team that carried out a record launch of 104 satellites simultaneously, on February 15, 2017.
Lalithambika was a Deputy Director at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thiruvananthapuram. She has led the team to review the design of rockets— including the (GSLV-Mk-3), the rocket that would be carrying out the human space mission. She has also worked on building auto-pilot for rockets.

As a winner of the Astronautical Society of India excellence award for her remarkable contribution and work in launch vehicle technology, she was chosen by ISRO chairman K Sivan, director of ISRO, to spearhead the Human Space Flight program. This program will make India the fourth country to launch a human in space.

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