ISRO has high ambitions for the future, including lunar and planetary science missions, larger launch vehicles, X-ray and ultraviolet observatories, and numerous advanced propulsion development programs.

But...stop me if you've heard this one before...

An Indian space shuttle? The Indian Space Research Organisation is working towards one — only this version will be called a Reusable Launch Vehicle and should be ready after 2010.

As its name suggests, the Reusable Launch Vehicle can be used again and again like the shuttle unlike ordinary rockets that can be used only once.

While making one is expensive and involves high levels of technological inputs and costs, it is easier in the long run to have one. For the future, there is a two-stage orbit vehicle, slated for 2030, and a single-state orbit vehicle, slated for 2050, that could theoretically take off like a plane and go straight into space.