Why in News? 

India inaugurated ICS 2025 with the Theme - Harnessing Space for Global Progress: Innovation, Policy, and Growth.  

India’s Major Space Ambitions 

• Establish a Bharatiya Space Station by 2035; send an Indian astronaut to the Moon by 2040.   
• Future exploration missions to Mars, Venus & asteroids. 
• Gaganyaan human spaceflight program. 
• NASA-ISRO NISAR mission & Chandrayaan-5 mission with Japan 

Recent Achievements 

• Success of Chandrayaan-3; making India 1st country to land near the lunar south pole 
• Shubhanshu Shukla became 1st IAF officer to travel to the ISS