When Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced India's first human space flights mission on a rocket built by ISRO on Independence Day last week, a widely-appreciated clause was his promise that it could be a "son or a daughter" who would take the Indian flag to outer space. At the Indian Space Research Organisation or ISRO, a part of PM Modi's promise has already been kept. The space agency has deputed Dr VR Lalithambika, an experienced engineer, to head the astronaut program.