Major milestones in Indian Space Programme:
Indian Space Programme began at Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS) located at Thumba near Thiruvanathapuram. Thumba was selected for being rocket launching station because geomagnetic equator of the earth passes over Thumba. The geomagnetic equator of the earth passes over Thumba.
On November 21, 1963, the first sounding rocket was launched from TERLS. The first rocket, a Nike-Apache was procured from the US. A sounding rocket is a rocket, which is intended for assessing the physical parameters of the upper atmosphere.
