page_title: Thumba
section_title: Overview
hierarchical_section_title: Thumba / Overview
caption_attribution_description: English: First rocket launched from TERLS just after launch. A Nike Apache in 1963.
context_page_description: Thumba is an area of Thiruvananthapuram city, capital of Kerala, India.
context_section_description: Thumba became well-known to the outsiders after the establishment of Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS), which was the first of that kind in India. TERLS was founded in Thumba in 1962 in the district of Trivandrum on the southern tip of India very close to earth's magnetic equator to launch sounding rockets.
  Dr.  H G S Murthy, D Eswar Das, M R Kurup and A. P. J. Abdul Kalam were amongst the initial team of rocket engineers.
caption: First rocket launched from Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station in 1963
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