Only licensed man to kill rockets of ISRO

Chennai, Oct 15: S Krishnamurthy, 59, and has a dull designation of general manager safety. But he is the only man licensed to kill in midair the rockets of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) without seeking anybody's permission.

The aerospace engineer at Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) has used his 'licence' once, in 2006 - destroying ISRO's Geosynchronous Space Launch Vehicle (GSLV F02) that was carrying the 2,168-kg Insat 4C communication satellite.

As India prepares for the Oct 22 launch of its moon mission Chandrayaan, Krishnamurthy and his team members are also getting ready in their remote location away from the mission control room. They will monitor the flight path of the moon rocket, diligently plotting the Instantaneous Impact Point (IIP) - the point where the vehicle or its debris would fall. Laughing at the sobriquet James Bond', Krishnamurthy said: "I will push the destruct button only when the rocket veers away from its path endangering lives and property."

OneIndia News