Step 1 :Let's denote the number of commercial launches as C and the number of noncommercial launches as N.
Step 2 :From the problem, we know that the total number of launches is 69. So we can write the first equation as \(C + N = 69\).
Step 3 :We also know that the number of noncommercial launches was five more than three times the number of commercial launches. This gives us the second equation \(N = 3C + 5\).
Step 4 :Now we can solve this system of equations to find the values of C and N.
Step 5 :The solution to the system of equations is \(C = 16\) and \(N = 53\).
Step 6 :So, the number of commercial orbital launches was \(\boxed{16}\) and the number of noncommercial orbital launches was \(\boxed{53}\).