Malayali scientist V R Lalithambika conferred with highest civilian French honour

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: V R Lalithambika, a Malayali and former ISRO scientist, who played a crucial role in space cooperation between India and France, has been awarded France's highest civilian honour.

French Ambassador to India Thierry Mathou presented the award on November 28. VR Lalithambika is the second ISRO scientist to receive this award after former chairman AS Kirankumar. Kirankumar had received the honour in 2019.

In 2018, as director of the Human Space Flight Program, Lalithambika led the mission in coordination with the French National Space Agency (CNES) for the Gaganyaan project. After graduating in Electrical Engineering from CET, Thiruvananthapuram, she joined VSSC in 1988. In 2018, she became the first director of the Human Space Mission. She stays near Kallummoodu, Pettah.

Lalithambika is the daughter of Vijayalakshmiamma and Ramachandran Nair, who was a member of the Kovilvila family near the old Sreekanteswaram temple in Thiruvananthapuram and was the chief engineer in the water authority. Renowned Mathematician MN Ramakrishna Pillai is her grandfather.
Her husband is Pradeep Kumar, former chairman of State Pollution Control Board. Daughter Purnima is a doctor at Thiruvananthapuram Medical College. Son-in-law Dr Subhash. Son Arvind works at the Singapore centre of Dell, a computer manufacturing company. Daughter-in-law Saranya.

JRD Tata, Satyajit Ray, CNR Rao, Pandit Ravi Shankar, Subin Mehta, E Sreedharan, Amitabh Bachchan, Shivaji Ganesan, Lata Mangeshkar, Shah Rukh Khan and Shashi Tharoor have also received France's highest civilian honour.