A S Kiran Kumar bestowed with France’s highest civilian award

Former ISRO chairman A S Kiran Kumar has been conferred with France’s highest civilian award – Chevalier de l’Ordre national de la Lgion d’Honneur – for his contribution to India-France space cooperation. Throughout his career at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), including as its chairman from 2015 to 2018, Kumar fostered the historic and ambitious space cooperation between India and France. The Ordre national de la Lgion d’Honneur (National Order of the Legion of Honour) was created in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte, and is the highest civilian award given by the French for outstanding service to France, regardless of the nationality of the recipient. The President of the French Republic is the Grand Master of the Ordre national de la Lgion d’Honneur.