India has been doing so well in its space exploration but in a sad to know that the Indian Space Research Organisation scientist N Valarmathi, the voice behind the countdown launches including Chandrayaan-3 which turned out to be her final one, passed away on Saturday evening due to a heart attack in Chennai, according to media reports.

Dr PV Venkitakrishnan, a former director at ISRO condoled her demise on X (formerly Twitter) and said that Chadrayaan-3 was her final countdown announcement.

“The voice of Valarmathi Madam will not be there for the countdowns of future missions of ISRO from Sriharikotta. Chandrayan 3 was her final countdown announcement. An unexpected demise. Feel so sad. Pranams!" Dr Venkitakrishnan wrote on X.

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.

Though Valarmathi has passed away but India will forever remember her voice.

RIP Valarmathi! 🙏