Agglomeration of More Astro-based Announcements

The first official Cygnus delivery to the International Space Station launched on January 9, 2014. This follows on the heals of Space-X's successful Thaicom 6 launch on January 6th -- an auspicious beginning to 2014 for the Commercial Space industry.

It's somewhat interesting to note that the Thaicom 6 satellite was made by Orbital Sciences, the company responsible for the Cygnus spacecraft. The aerospace industry is interesting that way. Rivals are often as not collaborators in one way or another. The Cygnus spacecraft was docked with the International Space Station on January 12th. So far so good.



Lastly, in another bit of encouraging news, the Obama Administration has extended funding for the International Space Station until at least 2024. This means that commercial space carriers will have at least one destination to which to travel for the next decade or so. This was announced in conjunction with a series of summits put on by the International Academy of Astronautics on January 9th and 10th of this year.