Posted: Fri, Jan 2, 2015, 10:07 AM ET (1507 GMT)
The head of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the nation's space agency, retired Wednesday, with only an interim replacement named. K. Radhakrishnan stepped down from the chairmanship of ISRO on Wednesday, after his term as head of the agency was extended by four months by the government. Radhakrishnan was widely hailed in India as a strong leader of ISRO, citing the successes of the agency's Mars Orbiter Mission and the test launch in December of the GSLV Mark III launch vehicle. Radhakrishnan is being replaced on an interim basis by Shailesh Nayak, secretary of India's ministry of earth sciences. A permanent replacement for Radhakrishnan, which many expected to be named prior to his retirement, is expected in the next month.

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