How Vast Plans to Pioneer a Habitable Commercial Space Station

The Race To Replace The ISS

For a quarter century, the International Space Station has been the place humans live and work in orbit. That era has an expiration date: NASA and its partners plan to retire and deorbit the ISS by the end of 2030—and they’ve already picked SpaceX to build the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle that will guide the station down safely. The hand-off to privately owned platforms is no longer theoretical policy; it’s a deadline on the calendar. Whoever fields a safe, reliable, and economically viable orbital outpost first will shape the next decade of human spaceflight.

Among the contenders, Vast has taken a bold, product-focused path: build a compact, crew-tended station that can fly as soon as mid-decade, then iterate. The company’s first spacecraft, Haven-1, is designed to launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 and host four astronauts for short missions while supporting small-scale research and manufacturing. After initially targeting 2025, Vast has re-baselined to “no earlier than May 2026,” a reminder that orbital infrastructure is as much program management as it is propulsion and pressure vessels.

This story unpacks Vast’s business model and funding, its deep partnership with SpaceX, the engineering challenges of making a small station livable, and the competitive field—Axiom Space, Blue Origin & Sierra Space (Orbital Reef), and Voyager Space & Airbus (Starlab)—all racing to occupy low-Earth orbit (LEO) after the ISS. It also explores the risks and opportunities of privatizing a piece of humanity’s spacefaring infrastructure.

Who Is Vast—and Why Start With A Small, Habitable Station?

Vast emerged from stealth in 2022 with a sweeping ambition: artificial-gravity space stations that enable long-term human presence. In February 2023, the company signaled it would build toward that vision by acquiring Launcher, a startup with a flight-proven space tug (“Orbiter”), an engine program (E-2), and a seasoned team led by founder Max Haot, who joined Vast as president (later CEO). The deal gave Vast manufacturing depth, propulsion know-how, and an on-orbit testbed to wring out subsystems—practical assets for a company venturing into crewed habitats.

Funding has been unusually straightforward for a space hardware company: Vast is backed primarily by founder Jed McCaleb, the billionaire technologist behind Ripple and Stellar. In 2023, industry reporting framed the initiative as hundreds of millions of dollars of founder capital; by March 2025, Bloomberg characterized McCaleb’s commitment as “$1 billion” dedicated to Vast’s station ambitions. The company itself has described Haven-1 as “fully funded,” though private companies’ internal budgets are, of course, opaque to outsiders.

Vast’s near-term product is deliberately modest: Haven-1 is a single-vessel station sized for Falcon 9, built to host up to four astronauts for short-duration, crew-tended missions. The company pairs that with a clear monetization plan: sell crew time and payload slots in a small “Haven-1 Lab” inside the vehicle, with dedicated power, data, Starlink connectivity, and integration support. The small-first strategy lets Vast fly sooner, support the ISS transition period, and generate real customer feedback to shape its follow-on platform, Haven-2, which the company positions as a successor-class station later in the decade.

The SpaceX Partnership: Launch, Transport, Connectivity

Vast’s collaboration with SpaceX runs deep:

• Launch & Crew Transport: SpaceX agreed to launch Haven-1 and fly the first crewed “Vast-1” mission with Crew Dragon, initially marketed as up to 30 days on orbit for four people (Vast later tightened its public mission duration for Haven-1 to a shorter crew stay). In December 2024, Vast and SpaceX extended their partnership to include two private astronaut missions to the ISS, illustrating Vast’s intent to blend ISS-based operations with its free-flying platform.

• On-Orbit Internet: Vast says Haven-1 will be the first commercial station with Starlink connectivity, giving payloads and crews high-throughput data links without bespoke comms payloads. Operational bandwidth is a nontrivial differentiator for small research labs, in-space manufacturing pilots, and national astronaut missions that value real-time outreach.

Operationally, this partnership concentrates risk and simplifies interfaces: one provider for launch, crew transport, and data backbone. Vast still diversifies around the edges—e.g., propulsion with Impulse Space and cargo services MoUs—but the core of the early station’s mission stack is SpaceX.

The Product: Haven-1 As A Lean, Habitable Platform

Haven-1 is not a “capsule”; it is a pressurized microstation with deployable solar arrays (from DHV Technology) capable of ~13.2 kW peak power, IDSS-compatible docking, a domed window for observation, and a compact lab offering standardized “Microgravity Lab Enclosures (MLEs)” that provide 100–200 W per slot, Ethernet, and Starlink connectivity. Vast markets single- and double-slot options, a familiar pattern to institutional users accustomed to ISS payload racks but scaled to a small habitat.

Crew operations are designed around short, intensive campaigns: arrive in Crew Dragon, dock via IDSS, conduct a burst of experiments and demos, then return to Earth. Short campaigns limit consumables and the wear-out risk on life-support hardware, and they align with early customer groups (private astronaut missions, national “pathfinder” crews, university and startup payloads).

Vast also frames Haven-1 as a bridge to artificial gravity. The company’s early branding emphasized rotating habitats; while Haven-1 itself does not spin, Vast’s public roadmap—Haven-2 and beyond—keeps that ambition alive. The path starts with proving you can keep people healthy and payloads productive in a tiny outpost; then, you design toward partial-gravity modules that mitigate long-term physiological risks.

Engineering A Livable Microstation

Life Support: Recycling The Essentials

Running humans off-world means running ECLSS—Environmental Control and Life Support Systems—that keep the air clean, the temperature stable, and the water drinkable. NASA’s Marshall and Johnson teams have spent decades maturing regenerative systems on the ISS, including Water Recovery, Air Revitalization (CO₂ removal and trace contaminant control), and Oxygen Generation via electrolysis. The engineering challenge for a tiny station is shrinking, hardening, and simplifying those subsystems without the sprawling redundancy of the ISS.

Short missions help: the less time you spend aloft, the fewer consumables you must regenerate; ECLSS can lean more on stored reserves and Dragon’s life-support envelope. But even two weeks with four people produce kilograms of CO₂ and liters of wastewater. A commercial microstation must balance regeneration hardware (mass, complexity) with logistics (mass to orbit, waste return) while meeting NASA/partner health standards and enabling rapid turnaround between crews. NASA’s recent ECLSS roadmaps emphasize long-life components, less maintenance, and Earth-independent diagnostics—goals that translate cleanly into commercial reliability requirements.

Radiation: Shield The Everyday, Plan For The Worst Day

LEO crews face a constant drizzle of galactic cosmic rays (GCR) and occasional solar particle events (SPEs). Thin-walled pressure vessels are not vaults. The pragmatic approach is a combination of distributed shielding using low-Z materials (e.g., water, polyethylene) that reduce secondary particle showers, plus a “storm shelter” designed to meet NASA dose limits even in rare, high-flux events. Recent NASA briefs suggest ~10–20 cm water-equivalent shielding can keep crews within limits for centennial-scale SPEs. The small volume of a microstation can be an advantage here: it’s easier to concentrate consumables (water bags, supplies) around a designated safe area reachable in minutes.

Power & Thermal: Enough Watts, Enough Radiators

The ISS averages ~75–90 kW of electrical power; Haven-1 at ~13.2 kW peak must be frugal and carefully scheduled. Experiments, habitat loads, comms, and visiting vehicle support all compete for watts; campaign planning becomes a product feature, not an afterthought. Every watt also becomes heat that must be rejected via radiators—a tougher problem on compact platforms with limited surface area. Vast’s decision to offer 100–200 W payload envelopes signals a tight but workable power budget for early-stage research and in-space manufacturing pilots.

Interfaces & Modularity: Docking Standards Pay Off

By adopting the International Docking System Standard (IDSS), Vast ensures Crew Dragon can mate to Haven-1 and that future modules and vehicles from other providers can, too. Standardized power, data, air, and command pass-throughs accelerate integration, reduce mission-specific engineering, and make swap-in upgrades (e.g., adding a power/thermal “bus” module) tractable as the station family grows.

Business Model: How A Microstation Makes Money

Vast’s revenue pillars echo the ISS commercialization framework—but tailored to a much smaller asset:

1. Crewed Missions (Seat Blocks): Sell an entire crew campaign (vehicle + station time) to a nation, research consortium, or private group, as Axiom has done on the ISS. This can bundle training, mission ops, and communications. Falcon 9 + Dragon + Haven-1 positions Vast to package an integrated product with fewer vendors in the loop.

2. Haven-1 Lab Payloads: Offer standardized racks with 100–200 W, data, and Starlink—plus engineering and integration services—to universities, startups, and corporate R&D. The company has publicly named early partners and advertises single/double “MLE” options with clear mass-power envelopes.

3. Government Services: Vast has signed agreements to test at NASA’s Armstrong Test Facility, to leverage the ISS National Lab, and to collaborate with ESA—all signals that the company aims to be a vendor to agencies as much as a platform for private customers. Government demand is critical ballast in the early LEO economy.

4. Cargo & Logistics Partnerships: Vast has lined up European cargo service concepts (e.g., The Exploration Company) for future stations, a hedge against single-provider risk and a way to broaden access for non-U.S. customers.

Zooming out, the space economy totaled ~$613B in 2024, with significant growth in commercial segments—LEO services are a sliver of that, but they sit atop large, adjacent markets (launch, broadband, Earth observation). NASA’s policy aims to be one customer among many in LEO, catalyzing a marketplace that includes tourism, national astronaut missions, research, and in-space production. That policy thrust—coupled with the ISS’s fixed 2030 sunset—creates the demand signal Vast and its peers are chasing.

Markets: Tourism, Research, Manufacturing, Government

Space Tourism & National Astronaut Missions

Axiom’s private missions proved out the model: crewed flights with a mix of private citizens and national astronauts, heavy on research and outreach. Vast’s smaller venue and short-campaign cadence fit sovereign clients wanting their own flag in orbit without the complexity of a full-up national program. Dragon’s heritage and training pipeline help de-risk these missions.

Microgravity Research & Manufacturing

The most compelling long-term market is in-space production (ISP)—materials and biopharma that benefit from microgravity. Early stage efforts need repeatable, instrumented lab slots with reliable power/data and fast iteration between flights. Haven-1’s lab offering is a fit-for-purpose MVP for companies testing crystal growth, protein assembly, fiber drawing, or organ-on-chip manufacturing processes before scaling up. NASA has an explicit program—In Space Product Applications (InSPA)—to accelerate this sector, which could feed directly into commercial platforms.

Government Contracts & CLD Transition

NASA’s Commercial LEO Destinations (CLD) Phase 1 awards (Dec. 2021) seeded Starlab (Nanoracks/Voyager/Airbus), Orbital Reef (Blue Origin/Sierra Space), and a now-canceled Northrop Grumman station concept. While Vast is not a CLD Phase 1 awardee, it can still sell services to NASA (as the agency transitions ISS work to commercial platforms) and partner with CLD stations as the ecosystem matures. The Phase 1 awards totaled $415.6M: $160M Nanoracks, $130M Blue Origin, $125.6M Northrop.

Competitive Landscape: Four Paths Up The Same Mountain

Axiom Space: ISS First, Then Break Away

Axiom is assembling a station that will initially attach to the ISS—starting with a Payload-Power-Thermal Module (PPTM)—before detaching to free-fly as soon as 2028. It has flown multiple private astronaut missions and enjoys a long-running integration with NASA. The bet: leveraging the ISS for infrastructure and credibility yields smoother certification and customer pipelines when Axiom Station separates.

Starlab (Voyager Space & Airbus): One-Launch Station On Starship

Starlab is designed as a large, single-launch station, targeting 2028 on SpaceX Starship, with a crew of four and deep Airbus heritage in habitat design. Starlab completed PDR in early 2025 and moved into “full-scale” development. The one-shot launch simplifies assembly but concentrates schedule risk in Starship’s readiness and a single mission’s success.

Orbital Reef (Blue Origin & Sierra Space): Mixed-Use “Business Park” In Orbit

Orbital Reef aims to be a multi-module, mixed-use station late in the decade, combining Blue Origin’s heavy-lift and Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser logistics. Sierra’s cargo Dream Chaser—under NASA’s CRS-2—is designed to deliver and return cargo gently to a runway, a unique value for delicate payloads. The Reef vision is compelling; the critical path runs through New Glenn and Dream Chaser’s flight cadence.

Vast: Small, Sooner, Then Scale

Vast’s differentiation is time-to-first-habitat and focus. A Falcon-9-class outpost with Dragon access, Starlink backbone, and lab payloads is tractable now. The risk is that a microstation could be capacity-constrained just as the market ignites; the opportunity is to iterate faster and add Haven-2 modules (power buses, larger volumes) as demand clarifies. The company’s ESA MoU and European cargo engagement suggest a multi-partner posture despite its strong reliance on SpaceX.

Risks: Schedules Slip, Hardware Breaks, Markets Emerge Slowly

• Schedule Reality: Vast’s shift from 2025 to NET May 2026 reflects the norm in human-spaceflight development. Every competitor has its own slips; the question is who reaches sustained operations first. NASA’s 2030 ISS date doesn’t move easily—commercial stations need to be up before deorbit, not after.

• Single-Vendor Dependency: SpaceX is an advantage and a risk. Falcon 9/Dragon supply is finite, and manifest reshuffles (ISS traffic, national missions) happen. Vast’s December 2024 deal to use Dragon for ISS private missions broadens its revenue options, but the company still depends on SpaceX flight rate and capsule availability.

• Life-Support Margins: Running a small habitat safely is about fault tolerance as much as functionality. NASA’s ECLSS standards, radiation briefs, and medical limits will shape how much redundancy and storm-shelter mass a microstation carries—mass that comes out of payload capacity or demands more launch budget.

• Market Timing: In-space production is promising but young. NASA is nurturing it; investors are watching for repeat customers and revenue beyond tourism. A station that’s cheap to operate and easy to book earns time to let markets mature.

• Capital Intensity: Bloomberg’s portrayal of $1B founder funding is unusual resilience in a cyclical capital market, but commercial stations are multi-year, multi-launch endeavors. Keeping burn aligned with milestones—and landing agency and sovereign contracts—will matter.

Opportunities: Simple, Useful, And Open For Business

• A Narrow, Valuable MVP: Haven-1 is small but useful: it gives customers a clean place to fly short-duration crew and payloads with strong data throughput. In an environment where many plans hinge on large, multi-element stations, a “microstation” that simply works could capture real demand.

• National Pathfinders: Countries without human-spaceflight programs can book a Dragon + Haven-1 campaign, fly national experiments, train astronauts, and run outreach—all at lower cost and complexity than a full ISS expedition.

• ISP On-Ramps: Standardized, instrumented lab slots make it easier for materials and biopharma teams to move from “ISS once” to “quarterly cadence on a commercial station.” If a few applications hit product-market fit (even in niche markets), that repeat business stabilizes station economics.

• Modularity & Iteration: If demand outgrows Haven-1, Vast can add Haven-2 modules that primarily deliver power/thermal or volume—a strategy mirrored by Axiom’s PPTM-first sequence. Iteration speed is a strategic weapon in a young market.

How Vast Stacks Up—A Snapshot

• Time To First Hab: Vast (Haven-1) is positioned to fly before the large CLD stations; Axiom may field the first detach-and-free-fly capability as early as 2028; Starlab targets 2028 on Starship; Orbital Reef remains late-decade with mixed-use aspirations.

• Path Dependence: Vast is SpaceX-centric (Falcon 9, Dragon, Starlink); Axiom is ISS-centric (then detaches); Starlab is Starship-dependent (one-launch station); Orbital Reef depends on New Glenn + Dream Chaser logistics.

• Business Mix: All four target government + commercial blends. Vast’s small-platform economics may allow lower price points for short missions; Axiom may command premium pricing for longer, more capable stays; Starlab and Orbital Reef aim to host larger ecosystems once operational.

What To Watch Next

1. Vehicle Testing & Milestones: Vast publicized welding completion and testing milestones for Haven-1; the test campaign at NASA Armstrong is a key risk-retirement step for pressure, power/thermal, and avionics systems.

2. Manifest Clarity: Which specific payloads and sovereign clients anchor Haven-1’s first two crewed campaigns? Announced partners, issued RFPs with SpaceX, and ISS National Lab access are encouraging, but signed manifests will tell the story.

3. ISS Timeline & Agency Procurement: NASA’s transition pacing—private astronaut missions, CLD Phase 2 service procurements, and ISS operations—will shape demand and scheduling realities for everyone.

4. Competitor Readiness: Axiom’s module sequencing change (PPTM first) is meant to accelerate the free-flyer date; Starlab’s PDR completion and production ramp signal serious momentum; Orbital Reef’s cadence will be clearer as New Glenn and Dream Chaser rack flights.

Bottom Line

Vast’s bet is that a useful, habitable microstation—one rocket, one habitat, one visiting crew vehicle—can arrive in time to matter in the ISS transition window, prove out customer demand, and evolve into a family of stations with more power, more volume, and eventually artificial gravity. The company’s SpaceX integration lowers interface risk and unlocks a pragmatic “just fly it” posture—while creating single-vendor exposure that Vast is mitigating with European partnerships and modular planning.

The commercial LEO era will not be won on renderings. It will be won by the teams that fly hardware, serve customers, hit turnarounds, and learn fast. If Vast can launch Haven-1 on its revised timeline, run a couple of clean crewed campaigns, and expand capacity intelligently, it won’t just be “first.” It will be relevant—with a credible claim to pioneering the first habitable commercial space station that feels like a product you can actually book.