The Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) will hold a slew of programmes on November 25 to mark the 60th anniversary of the launch of the first sounding rocket from Thumba on November 21, 1963, which, for many, ushered in the space age for India.
On November 21, 1963, an American-made Nike-Apache rocket with a French payload lifted off from what was then a little-known village in coastal Thiruvananthapuram, carrying aloft the dreams and ambitions of a young nation not yet two decades into independence.
In a fitting tribute to that first launch, a two-stage Rohini series RH200 sounding rocket will lift off from Thumba on November 25. The celebrations will be formally inaugurated by Minister of State for Science and Technology Jitendra Singh. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman S. Somanath, senior ISRO officials and veterans will be present.
