In the early 1960s, Dr. Vikram Sarabhai selected a small fishing village called Thumba in Trivandrum as the ideal location for a rocket launching station. And the spot he had zeroed in as a potential launch site housed a St. Mary Magdalene church. The church was located on Earth's magnetic equator. Then, in the 1960s, St Mary Magdalene Church became Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station.
After much labor rocket was built, the rocket was brought to the launch pad was carried on a bicycle.
On the eve of November 21, 1963, Nike-Apache blasted off into space from the garden facing St. Mary Magdalene Church.