New Delhi, Oct. 23 -- Renowned Indian space scientist Eknath Vasant Chitnis passed away peacefully at his home in Pune yesterday due to a heart attack. He was 100 years old.
A towering figure in India's space saga, Chitnis was instrumental in laying the foundations of the Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR), which later blossomed into the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh paid tribute on X, calling Chitnis "one of the icons of our space odyssey." Ramesh fondly recalled the historic meeting on February 10, 1962, when Chitnis accompanied Vikram Sarabhai to meet then-Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru at the Physical Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad, a moment that shaped India's space a...