N Valarmathi, voice behind ISRO’s launch countdowns, passes away

Indian Space and Research Organisation (ISRO) scientist N Valarmathi, the voice behind the national space agency’s rocket countdown launches, has passed away.

According to Wion, Valarmathi, a native of Tamil Nadu’s Ariyalur, passed away on Saturday evening due to a heart attack, in Chennai. The highly successful Chandrayaan-3, launched on July 14, turned out to be her final countdown.

Condoling her demise, Dr PV Venkitakrishnan, a former director at ISRO, said on X (formerly Twitter): “The voice of Valarmathi Madam will not be there for the countdowns of future missions of ISRO from Sriharikota. Chandrayaan-3 was her final countdown announcement. An unexpected demise. Feel so sad. Pranams!”

Social media is brimming with tributes for the late scientist.

Who was N Valarmathi?

Born on 31 July 1959, Valarmathi joined ISRO in 1984 and participated in several missions. She was the project director of RISAT-1, India’s first indigenously-developed Radar Imaging Satellite (RIS) and the country’s second such satellite.

RISAT-1 was successfully launched in April 2012.

Also, on Independence Day in 2015, Valarmathi became the first recipient of the prestigious Abdul Kalam Award, instituted by the Government of Tamil Nadu, in memory of former President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, also known as the ‘Missile Man of India,’ who passed away in July that year.