Back at the end of September 2025, I did an article on the race to a private space station called "The Other Other Space Race." The Other Space Race that everyone knows about is the race to start settlements on the moon; while the "Other Other race" I was referring to was the race to put a private Space Station into orbit. Searching with Blogger search box (top left of this page) just for "private space station," I find I've been writing about this topic since 2020.
The company this post is centered on, Vast, appears to be mentioned first in 2023, recent posts have been in reference to a test flight for testing out systems on their private space station called Haven-1.
Let me lead with something I probably don't need to say. The expected launch this May has been called off and it's looking to be in Q1 of '27. First flights of complex spacecraft not running into delays are pretty unusual.
Ars Technica has been diving into the various private space station companies and after an opening article about Voyager, goes into Vast today with, "The first commercial space station, Haven-1, is now undergoing assembly for launch." It's primarily an interview with Max Haot, the chief executive of Vast. The company is furthest along in terms of development, choosing to build a smaller, interim space station, Haven-1, capable of short-duration stays.
Ars: Where are you with the hardware?
Haot: Last Saturday (January 10) we reached the key milestone of fully completing the primary structure, and some of the secondary structure; all of the acceptance testing occurred in November as well. Now we are starting clean room integration, which starts with TCS (thermal control system), propulsion, interior shells, and then moving on to avionics. And then final close out, which we expect will be done by the fall, and then we have on the books with NASA a full test campaign at the end of the year at Plum Brook. Then the launch in Q1 next year.
Note: you probably know Plum Brook as the Neil Armstrong Test Facility. I know it was mentioned when Dream Chaser was being tested there.
The whole interview is interesting for the perspectives that Max Haot bring as well as the overall discussion of that sector of the space industry. I'll borrow one here:
Ars: What happens after you launch Haven-1?
Haot: We are not launching Haven-1 with crew inside. It’s a 15-ton, very valuable and expensive satellite, but still no humans involved, launching on a Falcon 9. So then we have a period that we can monitor it and control it uncrewed and confirm everything is functioning perfectly, right? We are holding pressure. We are controlling attitude. These checkouts can happen in as little as two weeks.
At the end of it, we have to basically convince SpaceX, both contractually and with many verification events, that it will be safe to dock Dragon. And if they agree with the data we provide them, they will put a fully trained crew on board Dragon and bring them up. It could be as early as two weeks after, and it could be as late as any time within three years, which is a lifetime of Haven-1. But we have a very strong incentive to send a crew as quickly as we can safely do so.
The Haven-1 habitat will be usable for three years, and they are trying to book more crews for the two-week missions it's intended for. As of the interview, Haot talks about four missions. Not much chance of overstaying the three year life of the "very valuable and expensive satellite."
The Haven-1 space station undergoing acceptance testing in November '25.
Credit: Vast Space
They'll find a way of stretching it out to 20 years.
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