Koppillil Radhakrishnan is an Indian space scientist who headed the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) between November 2009 and December 2014 as Chairman of Space Commission, Secretary of the Department of Space and Chairman of ISRO. Prior to this, he was the Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (2007-2009) and Director of National Remote Sensing Agency (2005-2008) of the Department of Space. He had a brief stint of five years (2000-2005) in the Ministry of Earth Sciences as Director of Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS).

Presently, he is the Chairperson of the Board of Governors of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur & Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Ropar, and Chairman of the Standing Committee of the IIT Council; Chairperson of the Oversight Committee of Science & Engineering Research Board (SERB-DST), and Chairman, High-powered Committee of Indian Knowledge Systems, Ministry of Education-Government of India besides being a Member of Space Commission and Honorary Distinguished Advisor in the Department of Space/ISRO.

He is a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering; Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, India; Honorary Life Fellow of the Institution of Engineers, India; Honorary Fellow of the Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers, India; Member of the International Academy of Astronautics; Distinguished Fellow of Astronautical Society of India; Fellow of the Andhra Pradesh Academy of Sciences; Honorary Fellow of the Kerala Academy of Sciences; Fellow of the Indian Society of Remote Sensing; and Fellow of the Indian Geophysical Union. He is an accomplished vocalist (Carnatic music) and Kathakali artist.

Penguin Random House India published his autobiography My Odyssey: Memoirs of the Man Behind the Mangalyaan Mission (ISBN 978-0-670-08906-2), co-authored by Radhakrishnan and Nilanjan Routh, in November 2016.