Space museum (Thiruvananthapuram)

 museum, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), spacecraft on display

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Situated near the northern boundary of Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS), a few meters from the coastline, St Mary Magdalene Church, lined with high-tech artifacts and visuals speak, tells the tales on the birth of Indian Space Programme.
It was in this church that the first rocket systems were assembled and integrated in 1962. The Bishop House, which is situated close to the church, functioned as the office of the newly set up rocket launching station. The office of the Director of TERLS was housed here. As the pace of the scientific activity gathered momentum, new projects came into being which necessitated the construction of new buildings. The first in the line were the Control Centre and then the R&D complex on the Veli Hills, all of which relegated the church building into the background.
But the good old church refused to go into oblivion! It sprang back to life with renewed vigour. it was converted into a photographic facility - this time as the official chronicler of the Indian Space Programme. In 1985 the church was converted into Space Museum
A meandering walkway, paved with concrete slabs, winds it way through the lawn. The walkway takes the visitor close to the massive, full scale model of PSLV. Not far from it on the open lawn, but partly hidden by spreading branches of trees, stands yet another full scale model-the PSLV heat shield.
Today, the Space Museum provides a tell-tale account of the Indian Space Programme, from its infancy to the present. The story of Indian Space Programme is unfurled in six sections, comprising History, Education, Technology, Applications, Global and the Future.