“Startup Company Offers a Replacement to the International Space Station”
“NASA prepares to give way to commercial space endeavors?”
The International Space Station, also known as ISS, launched its first module, named Zarya, on top of a Russian Proton rocket in 1998 and welcomed its first crew in 2000 via a Russian Soyuz capsule. Since 2000, the ISS has had a crew presence for the last 24 years and has been an example of international cooperation. As of early 2024, a total of 280 space travelers had been on the ISS from 23 countries. However, the ISS was not expected to last forever and is scheduled to be decommissioned and deorbited using a modified SpaceX Dragon spacecraft in 2030, where it will crash in the spacecraft graveyard in the Pacific Ocean. NASA has no plans to orbit a replacement to the ISS, as it will place its focus on the Artemis program. NASA will give way to the commercial sector to replace the ISS.
Since the end of Apollo and its application programs in the 1970s, the United States has made decisions to exit programs, which has resulted in the grounding of the U.S. space program. This is due to NASA's replacement programs having notoriously delayed replacement timelines. After the end of the Skylab 4 mission in 1974, NASA planned to replace it with the Space Shuttle. However, due to the Space Shuttle's delay, the U.S., which was the first country to send astronauts to the moon, was unable to return to space until the STS-1 crew launched aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia in 1981. NASA did not award contracts for the Commercial Crew Program of Boeing and SpaceX to ferry astronauts to the ISS until 2011. SpaceX’s Crew Dragon did not have its first crewed flight to the ISS until 2020, as NASA was 100% reliant on the Russians to ferry NASA astronauts to the space station.
The ISS is to be retired by 2030, and Artemis is behind schedule, so will the U.S. not have a presence in space? Several companies are aiming to enter the commercial space program or space tourism industry, with various plans in place to achieve this goal. A new California startup named Vast Space has submitted a bold proposal that will have a space station in orbit next year.
Vast Space has proposed the launch of a small, single-module space station on top of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in 2025. The space station is called Haven-1 and is tentatively scheduled to launch as early as August 2025. The Haven-1 will be compatible with the SpaceX Crew Dragon, which subsequently sends a manned crew to Haven-1. Vast Space aims to use the Haven-1 as a proof-of-concept prototype to secure the NASA Commercial LEO Destination or CLD contract (LEO stands for Low Earth Orbit). This contract will pave the way for the development of the subsequent Haven-2 modular space station, which will serve as a commercial replacement for the ISS, to which NASA will send its astronauts. If Vast Space wins the contract from NASA, it could place the first module in space in 2028, two full years prior to the retirement of the ISS.
There are numerous alternatives for a commercial space station, and it's not necessary to rely solely on a NASA contract to venture into low Earth orbit. Vast Space is a new player in the space station race, but it is far from a long shot. Vast Space has a blueprint that relies on the existing and proven hardware of the SpaceX Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon to reach space, significantly reducing the lead time to space. The primary concern is the amount of funding that Vast Space needs to overcome the regulatory hurdles often required to reach space. If it succeeds, a practical strategy exists to guarantee that the U.S.'s space capabilities won't suffer another setback, like past experiences.
Low earth orbit? Yawn. Been there, done that.
Now, a moonbase? A refueling station / space hotel at a Lagrange Point somewhere? Now you're talking.