Nasa too will want to review the flight data before deciding whether to release more seed funding to Orbital, and to clear the company for a Cygnus freighter demonstration mission to the ISS. All being well, this next demonstration could occur in late June or early July.

BBC: Orbital's Antares rocket makes test flight

One such is August Capital, which has a stake in Cygnus Solutions, the oldest open-source company and a supplier of development tools.

ECONOMIST: Open-source software

The Orbital Sciences Corporation (OSC) will shortly test its new Antares rocket before undertaking its own ISS demonstration with a robotic vessel called Cygnus.

BBC: SpaceX capsule returns with safe landing in Pacific

There is talk of a test flight to the ISS, using its Cygnus spacecraft, sometime next year.

ECONOMIST: SpaceX goes to the ISS