page_title: List of Padma Vibhushan award recipients
section_title: Recipients
hierarchical_section_title: List of Padma Vibhushan award recipients / Recipients
caption_attribution_description: Dr. Vikram A. Sarabhai, (left) Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and head of India's Department of Atomic Energy and Dr. Thomas O. Paine, NASA Administrator, sign an agreement to cooperate in an unprecedented experiment using a space satellite to bring instructional television programs to some 5,000 Indian villages. The Applications Technology Satellite 6 (ATS 6)satellite launched May 30, 1974, became available to the ISRO for one year on August 1, 1975. ATS 6 acted as a broadcasting station in space, sending health and educational television programs to inexpensive ground stations in remote villages of India.
context_page_description: The Padma Vibhushan is the second highest civilian award of the Republic of India. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for the "exceptional and distinguished service", without distinction of race, occupation, position, or sex. The Padma Vibhushan award recipients are announced every year on Republic Day and registered in The Gazette of India—a publication released weekly by the Department of Publication, Ministry of Urban Development used for official government notices. The conferral of the award is not considered official without its publication in the Gazette. Recipients whose awards have been revoked or restored, both of which require the authority of the President, are also registered in the Gazette and are required to surrender their medals when their names are struck from the register. As of 2020, none of the conferments of Padma Vibhushan have been revoked or restored.
caption: Vikram Sarabhai, widely considered as the "Father of Indian space program", was one of the founders and first chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation. Sarabhai was awarded posthumously in 1972.[29]
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