In a joint Twitter announcement, space startup Vast and SpaceX recently announced Haven-1, Vast’s inaugural space station along with two crewed missions. The station will be launched on a Falcon 9 and the crew will be transported to the station on Crew Dragon.
Launching no earlier than August 2025, Haven-1 is expected to be the world’s first commercial space station, beating Axiom Space’s planned Axiom Station to the title. It will crew four astronauts for applications ranging from scientific research to private tourism.
Credit: VAST Space
Tailored to fit snugly in a Falcon 9 fairing, the station specifies a 3.8 meter diameter with 70 cubic meters of pressurized volume for crew habitation and work. The station weighs in at 14 tons, which is still light enough for the Falcon 9 booster to land downrange on a drone ship for recovery.
Once in orbit and operational, SpaceX will then launch four private astronauts on Vast-1, the first commercial crew mission to arrive at a commercial station. Vast’s announcement specifies that this mission will have up to a 30-day duration. Vast has also “secured an option with SpaceX for an additional human spaceflight mission”, per the announcement on both Vast’s and SpaceX’s respective websites. Both of these missions, along with any future missions to Haven-1, will have all four dragon seats available for space agencies and private individuals/agencies.
Only the Beginning
Vast also made an effort to clarify that their vision does not stop at Haven-1. In their announcement, they also noted that the companies are already at work developing a newer, much larger station, powered by Starship. Haven-1 will remain on orbit for the foreseeable future until this new station arrives, where it will then dock as a module.
On Vast’s roadmap, the first step is to launch a scaled up version of Haven-1, 7 meters in diameter. This is currently referred to as a “Starship-Class Module”. This is currently scheduled for a debut NET 2028. In the 2030s, Vast plans to launch the aforementioned full station.
Credit: Vast Space
This station is intended to be a 100 meter long, 7 meter diameter “spinning stick” station, generating artificial gravity for its crew of up to 40 astronauts by rotating end-over-end. These stations will also include “co-orbital free-flying ancillary zero gravity modules” for both research and private use along with the spinning stick. Vast aspires to have multiple stations orbiting Earth, the Moon, and possibly other planets. Each station will be constructed from seven segments, launched by seven Starship missions. This is notable as Vast becomes the first customer that is truly embracing the capability that Starship offers for massive payloads, both in weight and size.
Not even the spinning sticks are the end of the road, however. Planned for the 2040s, Vast intends to operate a prolific, ever-growing fleet of even larger stations sporting gravity rings -the very same in space movies- across the entire solar system.
Credit: Vast Space
Supporting a crew upwards of a hundred, these stations will serve as off-planet communities “optimized for human physiology and psychology”. Planned to enable further human exploration and general life off Earth, these stations represent Vast’s vision of the epitome of commercial space station development.
Long-Term Partnership
Credit: Vast Space
Both Vast and SpaceX have expressed great excitement for this collaboration, both putting in words for the future of the two’s partnership. “Vast is thrilled to embark on this journey of launching the world’s first commercial space station, Haven-1, and its first crew, Vast-1,” said Jed McCaleb, CEO of Vast Space. “We are grateful to SpaceX for this exciting partnership that represents the first steps in Vast’s long-term vision of launching much larger, artificial gravity space stations in Earth orbit and beyond.”
SpaceX’s Senior Vice President of Commercial Business, Tom Ochinero, echoed a similar sentiment: “The SpaceX team couldn’t be more excited to launch Vast’s Haven-1 and support their follow-on human spaceflight missions to the orbiting commercial space station.”
Given the enthusiasm shown by both companies as well as the heavy-involvement Starship has in Vast’s future plans, this partnership between Vast Space and SpaceX is likely one to last, and maybe one that elevates both companies to even new levels.
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