Udupi Ramachandra Rao

Udupi Ramachandra Rao
Rao circa 2008
Born(1932-03-10)10 March 1932
Adamaru, South Canara district, Madras Presidency, British India
(present-day Adamaru, Udupi district, Karnataka, India)
Died24 July 2017(2017-07-24) (aged 85)
Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
Alma mater
Known forIndian Space Program
SpouseYashoda Rao
Awards
Scientific career
FieldsSpace science and Satellite Technology
Institutions
Doctoral advisorVikram Sarabhai
Udupi Ramachandra Rao
Chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation
In office
1984 (1984)–1994 (1994)
Preceded bySatish Dhawan
Succeeded byKrishnaswamy Kasturirangan

Udupi Ramachandra Rao (10 March 1932 – 24 July 2017) was an Indian space scientist and former chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation.[1] He was also the Chairman of the Governing Council of the Physical Research Laboratory at Ahmedabad and Nehru Planetarium at Bengaluru and chancellor of the Indian Institute for Space Science and Technology (IIST) at Thiruvananthapuram.[2] He is known as "The Satellite Man of India". He pioneered India's first satellite launch Aryabhata in 1975.

Rao was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India in 1976, and Padma Vibhushan in 2017.[3] He was inducted into the Satellite Hall of Fame, Washington, on 19 March 2013 at a ceremony organised by the Society of Satellite Professionals International. With this he became the first Indian to be inducted.[4][5] He was also to be inducted in International Astronautics Federation (IAF) on 15 May 2016. He was again the first Indian to achieve such a feat.[6]

  1. ^ "The Hindu : DD to improve quality of programmes". www.hinduonnet.com. Archived from the original on 20 August 2010. Retrieved 16 August 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  2. ^ "Indian space pioneer Udupi Ramachandra Rao passes away". The Hindu. 24 July 2017. Archived from the original on 24 July 2017. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
  3. ^ "List of Padma awardees 2017". The Hindu. 25 January 2017. Archived from the original on 27 January 2017. Retrieved 11 October 2017.
  4. ^ "U.R. Rao inducted into Satellite Hall of Fame". The Hindu. 29 March 2013. Archived from the original on 1 April 2013. Retrieved 3 April 2013.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference SHF-SSPI was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference SHF-ISRO was invoked but never defined (see the help page).