Oct. 9 - In a 21st-century Asian version of the space race between the United States and Soviet Union, India will compete with China by launching her own first unmanned mission to the Moon. Scheduled for launch on October 22, weather permitting, the Chandrayaan-1, India's locally made rocket will be fired from southeastern India. The estimated Rs3.86 billion (US$80.8 million) project involves six foreign countries, including the United States.

It aims to map a three-dimensional atlas of the moon through high-resolution remote sensing and map the surface's chemical and mineral composition.

 Aug. 27 - Business tycoon and Indian Richard Branson Vijay Mallya has recieved the green signal from the ministry of Aviation to fly his recently acquired Deccan Air internationally. This marks India's third International flight service, following Air India and Jet Airways.

Kingfisher Airlines will to fly to Thailand, Singapore, San Francisco, London and the UAE, amongst other destinations. The airlines is expected to launch their service from Banglore to London, Heathrow on the 3rd of September, the Economic Times reported.

Aug. 1 - New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport will inaugurate its third runway on Indian Independence day (August 15). The second busiest airport in the country is ramping capacity in preparation for the Commonwealth Games which New Delhi will host in 2010. The new runway will increase the airport’s capacity from the present 36 landings and takeoffs an hour to 65.

According to the Times of India, the trial runs will take place for a few days and the runway will be made operational for commercial flights by the end of August or beginning of September. ‘‘Almost all civil and technical work has been completed and trial runs should begin soon,’’ an airport official said.

July 24 - Even as major airlines across the world plan to cut air routes to low load destinations, in the face of rising fuel costs, Dinesh Keskar, Senior Vice-President - Sales, Boeing Commercial Airplanes, feel that after this turbulant time, India's aviation industry will see smooth sailing.

The current downturn in the Indian aviation industry would end in the next 10 to 12 months as the sector reduces flights and resolves overcapacity issues, said the US-based aircraft manufacturer Boeing told the Hindu Business Line.

 April 29 - India rocketed into space history on Monday by launching 10 statellites into their orbits some 600 km above earth. India became the second country in the world to achieve the difficult feat, after Russia which had put into orbit 13 satellites in April 2007.

The satellites which mainly belonged to Germany and Canada were carried into space by India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle which blasted off from Sriharikota, a space centre off the country's eastern coast near the southern city of Chennai.

The Indian-made Cartosat-2A remote sensing satellite, which is fitted with a high resolution camera for recording clear images from space was the main satellite launched, an ISRO spokesman said.

High resolution images and data from the satellite will be used to manage infrastructure and natural resources in the country.

Riding high on this successful mission, the ISRO said its all set to launch Chandrayaan 1, the moon mission, in the third quarter of this year.