Shri. S. Somanath

Shri. Somanath, a distinguished scientist, is the current chairperson of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), the premier space agency of India. He was appointed to this position in January 2022.

Prior to this, he was the director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre. He also held the positions of Director of the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre. While he was the Project Director of the GSLV Mk-III Launch Vehicle, their first experimental mission was successfully accomplished in 2014.

Shri. Somanath obtained B. Tech in Mechanical Engineering from TKM College of Engineering, Kollam, and Masters in Aerospace Engineering from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He joined VSSC in 1985 and was a team leader for the Integration of PSLV during the early phases.

He is the recipient of the ‘Space Gold Medal’ from the Astronautical Society of India. He received the ‘Merit Award” and ‘Performance Excellence award’ from ISRO and a ‘Team excellence award’ for GSLV Mk-III development.

He is a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE), a Fellow of the Aeronautical Society of India (AeSI), Astronautical Society of India (ASI), and a Corresponding Member of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA). He is in the bureau of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) and a recipient of the National Aeronautics Prize from the Aeronautical Society of India (ASI).