Thursday, July 28 2005 15:59 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Thiruvananthapuram: The President, A P J Abdul Kalam, today witnessed a symbolic launching of RH-200, one in a series of Rohini sounding rockets at the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS) in Thiruvananthapuram this morning.

Kalam, here to attend the silver jubilee celebration of the first successful launch of SLV-3, witnessed the launch along with Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair and B N Suresh, Director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Center.

RH-200 series, which was flown for about 250 times by the station, is a two-stage rocket, especially suited for meteorological studies.

Wind and temperature parameters up to an altitude of about 55 km could be measured with chaff or temperature payloads using the rocket.