S. Unnikrishnan Nair is an Indian

aerospace engineer Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is s ...

presently serving as the director of

Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre 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 India ...

(VSSC). He is known for his works in the field of launch vehicle design, Space Capsule Recovery Experiment (SRE), and Human Spaceflight Programme. Prior to his directorship of VSSC, he was Director of Human Space Flight Centre,

Bengaluru Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

Early life and education

S. Unnikrishnan Nair was born to Sreedharan Nair, who was an employee at the Kottayam Survey Office, and Rajamma. Nair received his B.Tech. degree in Mechanical Engineering from

Mar Athanasius College of Engineering Mar Athanasius College of Engineering (MACE) is a government aided engineering college located in Kothamangalam, Kerala state, India. The college is affiliated to the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University since its inception in 2015. One ...

affiliated to

Kerala University University of Kerala (formerly known as University of Travancore) is a state-run public university in Thiruvananthapuram, the state capital of Kerala, India. It was established in 1937 by a promulgation of the Maharajah of Travancore, Chithira ...

, ME in Aerospace Engineering from

IISc The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) is a public, deemed, research university for higher education and research in science, engineering, design, and management. It is located in Bengaluru, Karnataka. The institute was established in 1909 wi ...

, Bengaluru, and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from

IIT Madras The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras or IIT-M) is a public technical university located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is one of the eight public Institutes of Eminence of India. As an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), ...

, Chennai.

Career

Nair joined VSSC in 1985. He is currently the director of

. He was holding the additional charge of the director at the

Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) is a government-aided institute and deemed university for the study and research of space science in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. IIST was set up in 2007 by the Indian Space Resear ...

during the year 2022 to 2024.

Personal life

S. Unnikrishnan Nair is married to Jaya G Nair, a former Computer Engineer at VSSC. The couple have two daughters.

Awards and honors

* ISRO Team Excellence Award for his contributions to SRE.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nair, S. Unnikrishnan Indian space scientists People from Kottayam Indian Space Research Organisation people Living people Year of birth missing (living people) IIT Madras alumni Indian Institute of Science alumni