Interest in hypersonic research reached the peak in the early stages of space exploration and the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles. Many large size test facilities were built to produce the design data for the hypersonic vehicle configurations. Utility of these facilities faded after sufficient confidence in the design of reentry vehicles was gained. There has been resurgence in the interest in hypersonic flow research in recent times due to the interest in commercialisation of space travel and also due to the unveiling of many space missions by the developing countries like India and China. Hence many new industrial size hypersonic test facilities have been built recently or are being built around the world. The success of proposed future space programmes critically depends on the development of technological breakthroughs by basic research in academic environment and availability of trained scientific manpower. In order to meet the demands of Indian space missions. The Laboratory for Hypersonic and Shock Wave Research, which is the biggest laboratory in India with more than three dozen research students pursuing the PhD degrees has successfully built major hypersonic test facilities in the past two decades. I will present an overview of these major facilities and typical results obtained from our recent research work.