Space flight in 2006 continued its recent trend of slow but steady growth in human and robotic activities, moving forward in its two dominant themes: commercial utilization of low and geosynchronous orbits, and expansion of human presence in space toward exploration farther outward from Earth's boundaries. Based on the number of launches to orbit plus the number of launched satellite payloads, the utilization of space, which had reached its lowest level since 1961 in 2004 and remained on that level in 2005, in 2006 showed signs of reversing this trend. After staying 2 consecutive years at 55 total space launch attempts worldwide, in 2006 the number climbed to 66 (including four that failed).