NASA

The International Space Station w/ SpaceX Dragon, Orbital ATK Cygnus, and Soyuz

The morning of April 10, 2016.

See that? That's an image of the International Space Station in orbit from NASA's live webcast earlier this morning. To the casual observer it may not look much different than countless other images we've seen in the 15 years the space station has been active. But it's a historic image for one big reason: we're looking at SpaceX's uncrewed Dragon spacecraft attached to the station on the very left (the squat, white funnel-like craft with the solar fin sticking out) and Orbital ATK's uncrewed Cygnus to its right (the one that looks like it has an umbrella). This is the first time these two private spacecraft have both been attached to the space station at the same time. It hopefully won't be the last.

Both SpaceX and Orbital ATK are the only two private companies that have successfully ferried cargo to the International Space Station so far, and only in the last few years. For most of the space age up until now, these roles were fulfilled by government-owned and commissioned craft. But thanks to a variety of factors, including funding from NASA, that's changing rapidly.