Vast Says It Will Launch its First Space Station in 2025 on a Falcon 9
"We have a clear path for how we're going to get there":
A private space station company, Vast, announced on Wednesday that it intends to launch a commercial space station as soon as August 2025. After deploying this "Haven-1" space station in low-Earth orbit, four commercial astronauts will launch to the facility on board SpaceX's Crew Dragon vehicle.
The California-based company says this crew will then spend about 30 days on board the Haven-1 space station before returning to Earth. As part of Wednesday's announcement, Vast said those four crewed seats are now up for sale, as are those for a second mission that will launch no earlier than 2026.
"It's a super aggressive schedule," Jed McCaleb, the founder of Vast, said in an interview with Ars. "But we have a clear path for how we're going to get there."
[...] The partnership with SpaceX is the key to making this mission happen. Not only will the 3.8-meter-wide Haven-1 module launch inside a Falcon 9 rocket, but part of its life-support systems will also be provided by the Crew Dragon spacecraft when the vehicle is docked.
The Dragon spacecraft will remain powered on the entire time it is attached to Haven-1, providing some of the consumables such as air or water and other services needed to keep humans alive. By leaning on SpaceX and its experience developing these life support systems for Dragon, Vast will attempt to develop a space station on a quicker timeline.
[...] "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," said Tom Ochinero, senior vice president of commercial business at SpaceX, in a statement. "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."
[...] Presently, NASA is funding the development of four commercial space stations in low-Earth orbit; the stations are being built by Axiom Space, Blue Origin, Nanoracks, and Northrop Grumman. All four of these stations remain in the design or preliminary development phases, and all face questions about funding, commitment, or technology challenges.
[...] The company is planning some artificial gravity experiments on Haven-1—it should be able to reach approximately lunar gravity, or one-sixth that of Earth's gravity. It is hoping for a more robust artificial gravity setup with the Starship module later this decade.
Vast and SpaceX plan to launch the first commercial space station in 2025
The duo will have to compete with Blue Origin and other big rivals:
Another company is racing to launch the first commercial space station. Vast is partnering with SpaceX to launch its Haven-1 station as soon as August 2025. A Falcon 9 rocket will carry the platform to low Earth orbit, with a follow-up Vast-1 mission using Crew Dragon to bring four people to Haven-1 for up to 30 days. Vast is taking bookings for crew aiming to participate in scientific or philanthropic work. The company has the option of a second crewed SpaceX mission.
[...] As TechCrunch notes, the 2025 target is ambitious and might see Vast beat well-known rivals to deploying a private space station. Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin doesn't expect to launch its Orbital Reef until the second half of the decade. Voyager, Lockheed Martin and Nanoracks don't expect to operate their Starlab facility before 2027. Axiom stands the best chance of upstaging Vast with a planned late 2025 liftoff.
There's no guarantee any of these timelines will hold given the challenges and costs of building an orbital habitat — this has to be a safe vehicle that comfortably supports humans for extended periods, not just the duration of a rocket launch. However, this suggests that stations represent the next major phase of private spaceflight after tourism and lunar missions.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Thexalon on Saturday May 13, @01:14AM
1. You make the announcement, with a date and everything. The boss likes you, the press goes wild.
2. Reality doesn't match up with the announcement.
3. Nobody noticed part 2, because the announcement was years ago by that part and nobody bothered to look through old press about how they maybe were going to do a thing sometime in the future.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 4, Funny) by PiMuNu on Saturday May 13, @08:13AM (2 children)
> A commercial rocket launching a commercial spacecraft with commercial astronauts to a commercial space station is the future of low-Earth orbit
2. ?
3. Profit
(Score: 2) by oumuamua on Sunday May 14, @06:11PM (1 child)
Actually the profit is a huge question mark as well.
Sometimes it only makes sense in hindsight.
Take Musk with his goal to get Mars. That 'silly goal' has allowed him to capture the satellite launch market.
Gain first mover advantage in deploying satellite constellations.
Self-Fund an even bigger rocket.
https://www.genolve.com/design/socialmedia/memes/Musk-mars-humanity-a-multi-planet-species [genolve.com]
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Monday May 15, @07:41AM
> Sometimes it only makes sense in hindsight.
Right, but the satellite launch market already existed, SpaceX pushed a cheaper launch technology. The "Space Station" market does not exist. Is it space tourism that they hope to push? Satellite maintenance (and if so how does a space station help)? What is the need that this technology addresses and how much are investors willing to spend to address it?