Vast completes Haven-1 structural testing, launches pathfinder mission

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Haven-1 Primary Structure. Credit: Vast

With NASA set to decommission the International Space Station (ISS) in 2030, Vast is racing to launch the first commercial space station, which it hopes will ultimately replace the ISS. The company has now completed an important milestone in the production of its first space station.

Vast is a space station company founded in 2021 by Jed McCaleb. It launched its pathfinder, Haven Demo, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 Bandwagon-4 mission on Sunday, Nov. 02, at 01:09 AM EDT (05:09 UTC) from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

Vast’s first station, Haven-1, is due to launch NET May 2026, also aboard a Falcon 9.

Haven-1 isn’t just any payload; it aims to help Vast beat other contenders for NASA Commercial LEO Destinations Phase 2 (CLD) funding. These companies include Axiom Space (Axiom Station) and Voyager Space/Airbus (Starlab), among others.

“Vast is moving forward at speed, building Haven-1 as the world’s first commercial space station. It is the stepping stone to kick off a larger, more capable multi-module space station and prove our technology, team, and facilities in space with crew,” said CEO Max Haot on X.

Vast’s Haven Demo will test out key capabilities, such as Reaction Control Systems (RCS), power systems, and propulsion, in preparation for Haven-1.

Vast’s Haven Demo in the clean room – via Vast.

The satellite masses 515 kg and is expected to last for six months in orbit. With its solar array now deployed, the pathfinder will begin gathering crucial data for the station.

Vast’s First Space Station

As of October 29, The Haven-1 primary structure has completed pressure and load acceptance testing, with its hatch and domed window, at Vast’s Mojave, California facility. Next will be final weld inspections, followed by integration in the company’s clean room.

The Flight Qualification Article has completed testing at the facility purchased from Virgin Orbit in 2023. These include structural load dynamic testing and pressure and leak qualification. The Flight Qualification Article is necessary to demonstrate that the station will be able to withstand the conditions required for it to remain in orbit for three years.

Max Haot described Haven-1 as the “minimum viable product”. With its one docking port and reliance on a SpaceX Crew Dragon for key life support systems, the station will enable the company to test out capabilities needed for larger stations in the future.

The Dragon spacecraft requires a daily change of its CO2 scrubber; therefore, the station will launch with the necessary amount needed for 30-40 days on station for four astronauts.

With 45 cubic meters of habitable space, Vast hopes that it can make Haven-1 feel more like a ‘luxury hotel’ than a space station. The 10.1-meter-long and 4.4-meter-diameter module features crew quarters, equipped with Zero-G-optimized beds designed for comfort and stability. Also onboard is a 1.1-meter domed window, a deployable communal table, and 24/7 communication via SpaceX’s Starlink.

Vast hired veteran NASA astronaut Andrew Feustel as a spaceflight advisor in 2023; he is now its ‘Lead Astronaut’. The former NASA Chief Astronaut helps advise Vast on how to make the station as comfortable and productive as possible for future astronauts.

Haven Lab is Vast’s microgravity laboratory and will be part of the Haven-1 module. The research center and manufacturing platform offers Ten Middeck Locker Equivalent (MLE) payload slots. These standardized payload containers, also used on the ISS, enable seamless transitions between vehicles for experiments and research, and each one offers 100 W of continuous power. Five companies have become Haven Lab partners, including Redwire, Yuri and Exobiosphere.

Haven Lab Render (Credit:Vast)

Once in orbit, Haven-1 is expected to have up to four Vast crews visit over its three-year life span, each mission lasting 10 days. The first will be Vast-1, set to launch NET June 2026. The astronauts will be selected by Vast and trained by SpaceX at its facilities.

Haven-2 and other CLD competitors

Whether it’s crew comfort or research potential, everything that Vast learns from Haven-1 will be utilized for its next station, Haven-2. This station will consist of multiple modules and support up to 12 crew members for extended stays. The finished station will have nine modules with a center module launched aboard a SpaceX Starship vehicle.

Starship will be the only vehicle capable of lofting the vehicle to orbit due to its size and mass. SpaceX will launch the other modules on top of its Falcon Heavy rocket. Vast aims to have the first module in orbit by 2028 and the station completed by 2032.

Haven-2 Render. Credit:Vast

Rendering of the complete Haven-2 space station. (Credit: Vast)

A single module of Haven-2 will be 12 meters long, with a 4.4-meter diameter and panoramic windows up to two meters. Unlike Haven-1, no visiting vehicles will be required to support the station once fully assembled. Once fully configured, the station will have at least 500 cubic meters of habitable space, compared to the ISS’s current 388 cubic meters.  The central module will feature a 3.8-meter domed cupola window.

Vast hopes to win NASA’s CLD Phase 2; however, there are other companies also vying for funding, which is set to be $1.5 billion across multiple awards. Axiom hopes to launch the first module of its Axiom Station to the ISS NET 2026, where it will dock and wait for its second module before joining together to create a self-sustaining station.

Axiom Station as had been planned with four modules before recent financial issues came to light. (Credit: Axiom Space)

Another contender is Blue Origin and Sierra Space’s Orbital Reef, a multi-modular station that will eventually be able to sustain at least 10 crew members. Orbital Reef is set to launch NET 2027 aboard Blue Origin’s New Glenn.

Starlab, a joint venture between Voyager Space and Airbus, will launch atop a Starship vehicle NET 2028. Northrop Grumman is set to provide the cargo resupply vehicle, a variant of its existing Cygnus vehicle, which currently resupplies the ISS.

With the NASA CLD Phase 2 contract due to be announced in 2026, Vast hopes to demonstrate to the agency that it has the capabilities to sustain a space station in Low Earth Orbit by launching a commercial space station next year, before any of its competitors.

 (Lead image: Haven 1 Primary Structure at the test stand in Mojave – X. Credit: Vast)

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