P. Radhakrishan (Nair, Paramaswaran Radhakrishnan) is a veteran space scientist, author and speaker from India. He retired from the

Indian Space Research Organisation The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO; ) is the national space agency of India, headquartered in Bengaluru. It operates under the Department of Space (DOS) which is directly overseen by the Prime Minister of India, while the Chairman ...

as the Deputy Director of

Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre The Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) is a research and development centre functioning under Indian Space Research Organisation. It has two units located at Valiamala, in Thiruvananthapuram of Kerala, and Bengaluru of Karnataka. LPSC is a ...

. Radhakrishnan was one of the two trainees slated to travel to space in the STS-61-I (Challenger) mission in September 1986 as a Payload Specialist for INSAT-1C, but the flight was cancelled after the

Challenger disaster On January 28, 1986, the broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, killing all seven crew members aboard. The spacecraft disintegrated above the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 11:39a.m. EST (16:39 UTC). It was ...

. N.C.Bhat from

ISRO Satellite centre The U R Rao Satellite Centre (URSC), formerly ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC) ( hi, इसरो उपग्रह केंद्र) is an Indian Space Research Organisation centre for the design, development, and construction of Indian satel ...

was the other Indian space scientist who was trained by

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

for the mission – the plan was to select one of these two for the mission.

Early life

Born in

Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...

in 1943, Radhakrishnan completed his Bachelor of Science in

Physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

and Mathematics from

University College Thiruvananthapuram University College, Thiruvananthapuram (UCT) is a constituent college of the University of Kerala, based primarily in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. The college was awarded 23rd rank by National Institutional Ran ...

in 1963. In 1965 he completed his Master of Science in

from the same college.

Career

Radhakrishnan joined the

Indian Space Research Organization The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO; ) is the national space agency of India, headquartered in Bengaluru. It operates under the Department of Space (DOS) which is directly overseen by the Prime Minister of India, while the Chairman ...

(ISRO) in 1966 and was involved in the development of India's early satellites like

Aryabhata Aryabhata (ISO: ) or Aryabhata I (476–550 CE) was an Indian mathematician and astronomer of the classical age of Indian mathematics and Indian astronomy. He flourished in the Gupta Era and produced works such as the ''Aryabhatiya'' (which ...

, Rohini and

APPLE An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...

, and later the

Insat The Indian National Satellite System or INSAT, is a series of multipurpose geostationary satellites launched by ISRO to satisfy the telecommunications, broadcasting, meteorology, and search and rescue operations. Commissioned in 1983, INSAT is ...

satellites. He was part of the Programme Planning & Evaluation Group at

VSSC The Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) is a major space research centre of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), focusing on rocket and space vehicles for India's satellite programme. It is located in Thiruvananthapuram, in the Indi ...

, and later became the Group Director of the Electronics Division. During the 1984–1986 period – as part of the evaluation to be a Payload Specialist in the STS-61-I (Challenger) mission – he went through extensive tests and training at the Institute of Aviation Medicine, Bangalore and the

Johnson Space Center The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) is NASA's center for human spaceflight (originally named the Manned Spacecraft Center), where human spaceflight training, research, and flight control are conducted. It was renamed in honor of the late U ...

. He retired from the ISRO's LPSC as the center's deputy director for systems reliability & quality assurance.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Radhakrishnan, P. 1943 births Living people 20th-century Indian physicists Indian Space Research Organisation people Scientists from Thiruvananthapuram