Space flight in 2005 made a number of significant strides in both human and robotic activities, moving ahead in its increasingly dominant theme: progress toward human exploration ventures outside the Earth's boundaries. But based on the number of launches to orbit and the number of launched satellite payloads, the utilization of space in 2005, which had reached its lowest level in 2004 since 1961, remained on that level without showing signs of reversing this trend. For the second consecutive year, the number of space launches attempted worldwide totaled 55 (including three failed). However, in terms of commercial satellite sales, with 19 geostationary-orbit commercial communications satellites (comsats) ordered worldwide, 2005 brought a significant improvement over the 12 satellites ordered in 2004.