Skip to main content

SpaceX and Vast aim to be first to deploy a private space station

VAST ANNOUNCES THE HAVEN-1 AND VAST-1 MISSIONS

As the International Space Station nears the end of its life, SpaceX and Los Angeles-based startup Vast have unveiled a plan to launch the first commercial space station.

Recommended Videos

SpaceX will use a Falcon 9 rocket to send the station’s main module, Haven-1, into low-Earth orbit as early as August 2025.

Haven-1 will be joined a short while later by the larger Vast-1 module, followed by a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft with four astronauts aboard.

The crew will then live and work aboard the main station for around 30 days before returning to Earth in the Crew Dragon capsule.

“A commercial rocket launching a commercial spacecraft with commercial astronauts to a commercial space station is the future of low-Earth orbit, and with Vast, we’re taking another step toward making that future a reality,” SpaceX executive Tom Ochinero said in a release.

Vast — founded in 2021 as a specialist in space habitation technologies — will sell all four of the seats on the maiden mission, with customers expected to include domestic and international space agencies and private individuals involved in science and philanthropic projects. Pricing has yet to be revealed.

SpaceX will provide the four crewmembers with training for the Crew Dragon flight aboard the Falcon 9, as well as for the journey home inside the spacecraft.

With the International Space Station heading for decommissioning in 2031, private firms are planning to step in with their own stations so that astronauts can continue living and working in low-Earth orbit.

Blue Origin, owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, is aiming to launch the Orbital Reef facility by 2030, while Voyager Space, Lockheed Martin, and Nanoracks hope to deploy the Starlab station in 2027. And there’s Axiom, too, which could launch its space station at around the same time as Vast. Airbus, too, recently unveiled a concept design that could one day find itself in orbit. However, it’s worth noting that due to the huge complexity of these projects, deployment dates could well slip.

Vast said that its long-term goal is to deploy a “100-meter-long, multi-module, spinning, artificial gravity space station” launched by SpaceX’s Starship rocket, but that’s definitely a ways off as SpaceX’s vehicle has yet to achieve its first orbital flight.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Watch this Atlas rocket zip to the launchpad for Amazon’s Kuiper launch
ULA's Atlas V rocket on the launchpad at Cape Canaveral for the second Project Kuiper satellite deployment.

United Launch Alliance (ULA) has started the countdown clock for the deployment of Amazon’s second batch of Project Kuiper internet satellites.

The rocket operator released a time-lapse video on Sunday showing the Atlas V rocket moving from the Vehicle Assembly Building to the launchpad at Cape Canaveral in Florida. ULA chief Tory Bruno noted that while the rocket appears to hurtle to its destination, the vehicle carrying it is actually moving at a mere 3 mph.

Read more
These 6 rocket explosions show how SpaceX likes to roll
A Starship prototype explodes during testing.

The upper-stage of SpaceX’s next-generation Starship rocket exploded in a massive fireball at its Starbase facility near Boca Chica, Texas, on Wednesday night. No one was hurt in the incident.

The vehicle was being prepared for the 10th flight test of the most powerful rocket in the world, which also includes the first-stage Super Heavy booster.

Read more
SpaceX suggests potential cause of huge Starship explosion
SpaceX's Starship spacecraft explodes at Starbase.

SpaceX has offered an update on the massive explosion which destroyed the Starship spacecraft on a test stand on Wednesday.

The dramatic explosion took place at SpaceX’s Starbase facility near Boca Chica, Texas, during preparations for the Starship rocket’s 10th test flight, which was expected to take place in the coming weeks. No one was reported killed or injured in the incident.

Read more