Valarmathi, voice of ISRO launches, dies at 64

CHENNAI: N Valarmathi, a scientist in Indian Space and Research Organization (ISRO), the voice of ISRO launches, died on Saturday. She was 64. 3, 2, 1... the countdown that kept the entire country on edge during the launch of Chandrayaan 3. However, her voice will not be there for the countdowns of future missions of ISRO.

She died at her residence in Chennai following heart attack. A native of Tamil Nadu, she joined ISRO in 1984. The countdown sound for ISRO's many rocket launches was that of Valarmati.

Valarmathi was the project director of RISAT-1, India's first indigenously developed radar imaging satellite. She was also the first recipient of the Abdul Kalam Award instituted by the Tamil Nadu government.