N Valarmathi the voice behind ISRO mission launches, passes away; her last countdown was Chandrayaan 3!

The voice behind the Indian Space and Research Organization's rocket countdown launches, including Chandrayaan-3, which ended up being her final launch, ISRO scientist N Valarmathi, passed suddenly on Saturday night in Chennai after suffering a heart attack. Former ISRO director Dr. PV Venkitakrishnan expressed his condolences for her passing on X (previously Twitter) and claimed that Chadrayaan-3 was her last 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. Many social media users paid tribute to the late ISRO scientist. “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," a user wrote on X.  Another user said, “Jai hind ....she will be remembered as her countdown finally ended and gave us shivshakti point at the moon."

“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," the third user wrote.  India became the first country to land on the south pole of the moon in August as Chandrayaan-3 touched down on the lunar surface. It is also the fourth country after the US, China, and Russia to have successfully landed on the moon’s surface. Chandrayaan-3 mission has three components- The propulsion module, which transferred the lander and the rover module to 100 kilometres of lunar orbit, the Lander module, which was responsible for the soft landing of the lunar craft and the Rover module, which is for exploring components on the moon.