Our Land, home and god for Indian Space: The Unsung Pioneers of Thumba

In the chronicles of India’s march to modernity, few stories embody sacrifice, grit, and collective vision like that of Thumba a humble fishing village on the southern fringes of Kerala.

It was the 1960s. India, a young independent nation, was dreaming big but had little to its name. The idea of a space program seemed audacious, the foundation even more so. The men who would be remembered as architects of this dream Vikram Sarabhai and a young APJ Abdul Kalam faced the impossible: to launch India’s first rocket, with little more than aspiration and ingenuity.

They Rocket in BiCycle

Abdul Kalam, determined and rain-soaked, pushing a bicycle with a delicate rocket part, racing monsoon clouds to find shelter. Bullock carts trundled with equipment, while a handful of resourceful scientists set up makeshift labs in what little they had hardly an image of a “space race,” but unmistakably the start of one.

Thumba was chosen for building the space research center for the following reasons

• Located near the Earth’s magnetic equator, ideal for ionospheric and atmospheric research.
• Enables study of the unique equatorial electrojet phenomenon.
• Takes advantage of Earth's rotational speed for energy-efficient launches.
• Proximity to the sea provided a safer launch environment in the 1960s.
• Sparse population minimized risk and logistical challenges during early rocket tests.

Thumba, then, was not a scientific outpost. It was a poor fishing community, anchored by one precious possession the St. Mary Magdalene Church. This was more than a building. It was the heart of the village: a sanctuary of faith, love, and togetherness where generations celebrated, mourned, and built their lives.

We need all that is dear to you - Land, House and Church

When the Indian space program came seeking land, it came with a poignant and audacious ask the villagers were to give up not just their homes but their sacred church itself. How do you request such a sacrifice?

The answer: with honesty, empathy, and a shared sense of larger purpose.

The parish priest gathered his flock for an extraordinary meeting. The message was simple and stirring: “Our country needs this place. Our homes, our church, our entire village, must make way. This land is for India and for the generations to come.”

What followed was not outrage. There were no protests, no heated debates. Only silence, reflection, and as young Dr. Kalam would recall the solemn affirmation of faith: “Amen. Everything we have is for the country.”

The village voted with their hearts. They chose India’s future over their present, willingly leaving behind everything dear to them. The church became a laboratory and rocket assembly shed where prayers once echoed, now sparks of aspiration and science shot up.

The land acquisition at Thumba remains unmatched in its peacefulness and nobility. An entire community, invisible and rarely named by history, became silent pioneers of India’s space journey. Their sacrifice, seldom celebrated, built the indomitable foundation upon which ISRO stands today.

Unsung Heroes of Indian Space

No monument bears their names. Their stories are mostly unrecorded. Yet, make no mistake: those unknown fishermen and their families were patriots of the highest order. In giving everything, they democratized the dream of Indian space.

What began on bullock carts and bicycles in a rainy, resource-starved village now launches satellites to the moon and beyond. India’s space program is now amongst the world’s best not in spite of those humble beginnings, but because of them. That is the real Innovators Code: unity, selflessness, and the courage to build something extraordinary from nothing.

They were not educated, they were not rich, but they were patriots who put the country first. United, they enabled one of the smoothest land acquisitions the country—or even the world—has ever seen, and their sacrifices remain the foundation of Indian space research.

To the people of Thumba unsung, but never forgotten. Amen.