What is "pallithura"

Pallithura is a village in the district of Trivandrum, the capital city of Kerala state in India. Literally translated from Malayalam, it means 'the beach (Thura) besides the church (Palli). Although most churches in this region where beside the Arabian Sea, the etymology is significant because Pallitura is one of the places where St. Francis Xavier established a church. This church has now been transformed to the space museum of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre. The villagers of Pallithura are now famous for their sacrifice in 1962 of most of their village for creating the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station ( TERLS), which was the basis for the formation of Indian Space Research Organization. The revival of interest in the history of Pallithura resulted as a result of President Abdul Kalam's mentioning of it in his books and speeches.