Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre

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Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre

Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre
Agency overview
Formed	21 November 1963; 60 years ago (1963-11-21)
Jurisdiction	Department of Space
Headquarters	Trivandrum, Kerala, India 8°31′48″N 76°52′18″E / 8.53000°N 76.87167°E / 8.53000; 76.87167
Annual budget	See the budget of ISRO
Agency executive	Dr. S. Unikrishnan Nair[1], Director
Parent agency	ISRO
Website	ISRO VSSC home page

The Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) is a major space research centre of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), focusing on rocket and space vehicles for India's satellite programme.^[2] It is located in Trivandrum, in the Indian state of Kerala.

The centre had its beginnings as the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS) in 1962. It was renamed in honour of Vikram Sarabhai, often regarded as the father of the Indian space program. H.G.S. Murthy was appointed as the first director of Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station.^[3]

The Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre is one of the main research and development establishments within ISRO. VSSC is an entirely indigenous facility working on the development of sounding rockets, the Rohini and Menaka launchers, and SLV, ASLV, PSLV, GSLV and LVM3 families of launch vehicles.