Thiruvananthapuram: We fondly call our former president ‘Missile Man’ but now it is ‘Missile woman’ who has made her way to the headlines. Kerala holds its head in pride as it is a Malayali woman scientist who is part of the team that successfully test-fired a modified version of Agni missile.

Sheena Rani, a Thiruvananthapuram native, led the mission to develop a modified version of Agni-5 missile. While the Agni-5 missile with more than one nuclear warhead and a range of 5000 km is the pride of India, Sheena is also the pride of the country.

The 57-year-old, who is a program director at the Advanced Systems laboratory (ASL) in Hyderabad under the Defense Research Development Organisation (DRDO) has been a part of the Agni mission since 1999. She joined DRDO after eight years of service at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre. This was after the two nuclear tests in Pokhran in 1998. As a result of the efforts of various scientists like Sheena Rani, varied versions of the Agni missile system became a part of the Indian defence system

Sheena Rani was born in Thiruvananthapuram. She lost her father when she was in 10th standard. Later Sheena and her sister were raised by her mother. Sheena studied in the College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram. Sheena’s husband PSRS Shastri is also working in the missile division of DRDO.