What happened: Space companies Vast and SpaceX announced plans to launch the world's first commercial space station as early as 2025.
Details: The deal would see a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket deliver the Haven-1 commercial space station to low-Earth orbit no earlier than August 2025. Vast's first human spaceflight mission, Vast-1, will transport a four-person crew to Haven-1 on board SpaceX's Crew Dragon and stay in orbit for up to 30 days. It's also taking bookings for crews to participate in scientific or philanthropic work.
The bigger picture: Vast's CEO said the partnership represents a first step in its long-term goal of building larger, artificial gravity space stations for Earth orbit and beyond. The company wants to expand Haven-1 to become a module of a larger space station and simulate gravity by spinning.
Brands that should care: Vast could possibly launch its private space station before rivals including Blue Origin, Voyager, Lockheed Martin, and Nanoracks, though Houston-based Axiom Space has the highest likelihood of beating Vast with a planned launch for late 2025.
The Bigger Picture: After tourism, orbital habitats are expected to be a next big phase of private spaceflight. According to Precedence Research, the size of the worldwide space tourism market was $652M in 2021 and is expected to top $9.35B by 2030. Orbital services like space stations will still remain a sliver of the overall market, drawing an estimated $555M in revenue in 2030.
