When ISRO Aimed For the Heavens, a Tiny Church in Kerala Said Amen!

This is an updated version of the 2017 article.

By Verghese V Joseph –

As India’s Chandrayaan-3 explores the Moon in search of water, among other studies; an interesting story of ISRO itself began from the altar of St Magdalene’s Church in a tiny fishing hamlet in the southern Indian state of Kerala.

In an age of mindless religious animosity, an event during my early journalistic days comes as a whiff of fresh air. What the then principal scientific adviser to the Government of India, late A P J Abdul Kalam (1931- 2015 – who later went on to become one of India’s best-loved presidents), said holds true even today. I wish to recount that incident that made my heart swell with pride, so here goes.

Sometime in September 2001, I was assigned to cover President Kalam delivering the Narla Tata Rao’s first endowment lecture in Hyderabad.

Kalam, who was called the missile man, had earlier headed India’s missile development programme. The country has indeed come a long way from firing sounding rockets in 1963 to launching over 104 satellites in one go, not to forget the hugely-successful Chandrayaan I (Moon) and the MOM (Mars) Missions and now the third moon mission Chandrayaan-3 – aimed at landing a rover on unchartered Lunar South Pole. Only an exclusive club of nations have achieved those feats.

A little known fact was that a small church in Kerala’s backwaters took a giant leap of faith in India’s journey to the heavens, literally! Well, it isn’t anything that they call that state ‘God’s own country!” For him, this was literally a mountain-top experience.

The Church Experience

Kalam narrated how the country had the best of leaders in science, technology, history, politics and industry at the dawn of freedom. All these stalwarts had a vision and a universal mind, which transformed India into a developing country within a short time after freedom.

In 1962, eminent space scientists Dr Homi Bhabha and Prof Vikram Sarabhai were scouting for a place to establish space research station in the equatorial region. These two great scientists visited a number of places and finally zeroed in on Thumba, a small fishing hamlet near Thiruvananthapuram, or Trivandrum, the capital of southern state Kerala. Thumba was near the magnetic equator within the flow of electrojet and it was ideally suited for ionospheric research in upper atmosphere, apart from the study of atmospheric structure.

Relating the history of the Thumba Research Centre, Kalam said, “In the 1960s, Thumba was a small fishing village on the outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram city. But for the country’s space scientists, the location was exceptional as it was very close to the earth’s magnetic equator. “The site selected at Thumba lay between the railway line and the sea coast, covering a distance of about two and a half km and measuring about 600 acres.”

However, there was one problem. Within this area, stood a large and an ancient church of St. Mary Magdalene and also a Bishop’s House, whose site had to be acquired.

The original church at the site was founded in a thatched shed in 1544 by St. Francis Xavier. It was renamed after St. Bartholomew in 1644 and brought under the Jesuit priests in the domain of Portugal. In 1858 by a Papal decision, it was attached to the newly created Diocese of Cochin. Work started on a new church during the early years of 20th Century. The architects and sculptors came from the nearby state of Tamil Nadu.

As work progressed, some fishermen sighted the statue of St. Mary Magdalene in the sea shore. Strangely, a wooden pole was also washed ashore. The statue was blessed and conscecrated in the church. The pole was erected as a flagmast in front of the church. Ever since, this has been known as St. Mary Magdalene Church.

Kalam had an interesting tale to tell. Prof Vikram Sarabhai met many politicians and bureaucrats to get the place for setting up of an establishment for space science research work. However, he could not succeed because of the sensitivities of the place. He was then asked to see the Bishop of Thiruvananthapuram.

At that time, Rev Father Peter Bernard Pereira was the Bishop. It was a Saturday when Prof Vikram Sarabhai met the Bishop. Instead of giving them a definite answer, the smiling Bishop asked them to attend the Sunday mass, where he would put the question to the parishioners. At the mass, the bishop explained the scientific mission and asked the permission of his congregation to hand over the church to the scientists.

 

The Bishop told the congregation, “My children, I have a famous scientist Vikram with me who wants our church and the place I live for the work of space science research. Dear children, science seeks the truth that enriches human life. The higher level of religion is spirituality. Spiritual preachers like me, seek the help of the Almighty to bring peace to human minds. In short, what Vikram is doing and what I am doing are the same – both science and spirituality seek the Almighty’s blessings for human prosperity in mind and body. Vikram Sarabhai promises within six months, our abode and church will be newly built and given to us. Children, can we give them God’s abode, my abode, and your abode for a scientific mission?”

There was a pin-drop silence for a while followed by a hearty Amen from the congregation, which made the whole church reverberate!

Subsequently, the big event took place in 1962. Rev Father Peter Bernard Pereira, the Bishop of Thiruvananthapuram, took the noble decision to dedicate the church for setting up of Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS) at Pallithura, Thumba.

The bishop’s home was quickly converted into an office, the church became the workshop, and cattle sheds served as storage houses and laboratories. Undeterred by the little funding and few facilities, a handful of enthusiastic young Indian scientists began assembling their first rocket.

“We made that church as our design centre, started rocket assembly; design of filament winding machine for FRP product and the Bishop’s house was our design centre. Later, TERLS led to the establishment of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) and multiple space centres throughout the country,” he related.

Legend has it that the altar served as the design table and the bishop’s house the living quarters!

Building Bridges

In return for the generous, unquestioning support of Reverend Pereira and his parish, ISRO built two churches for them near Thumba. The paperwork was done and the villagers relocated to a new village with a brand new church in 100 days flat.

Kalam elaborated, “When I think of that event, I can see how enlightened spiritual and scientific leaders; all converge towards giving reverence to the meaning of human life. New churches and new schools were established in record time.”

Of course, the birth of TERLS and then VSSC gave the country the capability to design, develop and produce a huge world-class rocket system. Subsequently, India built the capability of launching geo-synchronous, sun-synchronous and meteorology spacecraft, a communication satellite, and a remote sensing satellite thereby providing fast communication, weather forecasting and also the ability to locate water resources for the country.

Twenty newly-recruited scientists handpicked by Satish Dhawan, Vikram Sarabhai and Vasant Gowarikar were busy with their laboratory work at a cowshed behind the Magdalene church.

Kalam was not expected to be part of the team that was to launch India’s first rocket from the Thumba equatorial launching station here (now VSSC). The young man convinced the interviewers about his passion towards rocket technology and they created an additional post to accommodate him in their team.

Thus, Kalam came to be associated with INCOSPAR that would become the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Thumba being the hub of all research activities became Kalam’s home for 21 years. Much to the envy of his peers, Kalam picked up the basics of managing projects that made him closer to Dhawan, whom he regarded as guru. Experiments were not as safe as they are now at Thumba in the earlier days.

Kalam, the architect of missile technology in India concluded, “Today, among us, Prof Vikram Sarabhai is not there nor is Rev Peter Bernard Pereira, but those who are responsible for creation and make the flower blossom, will themselves be a different kind of a flower of unique fragrance,” urging young Indians to help build the country. That giant leap of faith began in a church.

Now, India has the capability of standing shoulder-to-shoulder with other developed countries who have launched space missions on their own, a feat only select countries have achieved. Thanks to the large-heartedness of simple parishioners of St. Mary Magdalene Church, Thumba!

Also, listen to Parliamentarian Shashi Tharoor speaking at the new Parliament on September 21, 2023 on the Thumba Catholic community’s contribution to India’s space aspirations.

Pictures from Wikipedia and other sources.