Condolences are pouring in on social media to pay tribute to the late ISRO scientist.
Indian Space and Research Organisation (ISRO) scientist N Valarmathi, the iconic voice of rocket launch countdowns, died on Saturday, nearly two months after her last assignment - the Chandrayaan-3 moon mission launch.
N Valarmathi, 64, suffered a heart attack and died in Chennai on Saturday evening, according to reports.
Former ISRO Director PV Venkitakrishnan took to X, formerly Twitter, to condole her death and wrote, ''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!''
Ms Valarmathi, who was from Tamil Nadu's Ariyalur, was born on July 31, 1959. She went to the Nirmala Girls Higher Secondary School before graduating in engineering from the Government College of Technology in Coimbatore.
The scientist joined ISRO in 1984 and played a pivotal role in numerous 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.
In 2015, she became the first person to receive the Abdul Kalam Award, instituted by the Government of Tamil Nadu in honour of the former president APJ Abdul Kalam in 2015.
Tribute messages poured in on social media for Ms Valarmathi.
One user wrote, ''I am so sorry to hear about the passing of Valarmathi Madam. She was a true inspiration to many, and her voice will be missed during every launch. Om Shanti.''
Another commented, ''I noticed her absence during the #AdityaL1 launch. I thought she might be out of the office or something. But I didn't expect this sad news. I'll really miss her. Om Shanti.''
A third said, ''Very, very sad to hear this. We worked closely with her for our Vikram-S launch last year, for which she was the voice for the launch countdown.''
Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar also posted about her death and wrote, ''Saddened to hear about the passing of N Valarmathi ji, the voice behind many ISRO launch countdowns, including Chandrayaan 3. My condolences to her family and friends. Om Shanti.''
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