Why is it in the news?

• ISRO scientist V R Lalithambika received the Legion of Honour Award for her outstanding contribution to promoting Indo-French space cooperation.

About the Award

• Legion of Honour (Légion d’honneur), the highest civilian award by France.
• Established in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte.
• Given in recognition of exceptional service to France, irrespective of the recipient’s nationality.
• Previous Awardee: Former ISRO chairman A S Kiran Kumar received the honour in 2019.

Reason for the Award to V R Lalithambika

• Instrumental in the signing of the first joint agreement for cooperation between the French National Space Agency CNES and ISRO on human spaceflight in 2018. The agreement focused on collaboration in the area of space medicine.
• Coordinated an Indo-French agreement in 2021 for the Gaganyaan Mission. Under this agreement, CNES committed to training India’s flight physicians in France.