Apr 10, 2025The Haven-1 Experience is a full-scale walkthrough of the world’s first commercial space station, expected to launch in May 2026. Former NASA astronaut and current Lead Astronaut at Vast, Andrew J. Feustel, provides an up-close look at key interior features, including the Haven-1 Lab, crew quarters, and the zero-gravity sleep area system.
Commercial space station developer Vast has signed three more payload customers for its Haven-1 station set to launch in a little more than a year.Vast announced April 8 that Japan Manned Space Systems Corporation (JAMSS), Interstellar Lab and Exobiosphere will fly research payloads on the Haven-1 station launching no earlier than May 2026. They join Redwire and Yuri as payload partners for the station. (...)
Haven-1’s domed window will enable the crew to observe and photograph the Earth and space. This test fixture is critical to confirming the window’s strength and ensuring crew safety in space. Each test kick simulates hundreds of pounds of force, mimicking accidental bumps from astronauts inside the station.
The Haven Demo satellite launched on Bandwagon-3, right? Are there any updates on that?
Quote from: Vultur on 04/26/2025 08:30 pmThe Haven Demo satellite launched on Bandwagon-3, right? Are there any updates on that?It wasn't manifested, it may have switched to Bandwagon-4 launching in June but nothing has been announced yet.
A control moment gyroscope (CMG) is a device that maintains a spacecraft’s attitude in space. Haven-1 will fly with six Vast CMGs working together, each containing a fast-spinning flywheel mounted on a gimbal. CMGs are essential for space station operations, enabling precise orientation without using propellant. Vast is designing, building, and testing its CMGs entirely in-house, a key differentiator in the competitive field of space station development.
Happy National Space Day. We’re proud to bring space station manufacturing back to the U.S. for the first time in decades. 🇺🇸America’s next space station is scheduled to launch no earlier than May 2026, and we’re one step closer: the first circumferential weld of Haven-1’s flight primary structure is now complete.
Step inside Vast’s Long Beach headquarters, where Haven-1—the world’s first commercial space station—is taking shape. From initial design concepts to hands-on hardware development, our teams are laying the groundwork for the future of long-term space habitation. Discover the collaborative workspaces, engineering labs, and manufacturing facilities where Haven-1 is being designed, manufactured, and tested.
The Haven-1 primary structure qualification article continues critical testing at our Mojave, CA, test site. Last year, in just six months, we built the qualification article, enabling early testing and validation of our design to ensure we are building a safe and low-cost next-generation station.Now, Haven-1’s flight primary structure build is underway. Each milestone brings Haven-1 closer to orbit.
May 21, 2025There is a lot of talk about commercial space stations, but free flying spacecraft are the winners for the majority of applications.
Before we begin welding flight hardware for Haven-1, our team is validating the process using a development simulator for the Thermal Pump Tray Assembly, the heart of our thermal system.The simulation allows us to verify that our welding approach is repeatable, reliable, and safe. By running this practice build, we’re verifying our tooling, identifying potential areas of contraction and stress, and refining our processes.
Haven Demo is now fully integrated and undergoing vibration testing at Vast’s headquarters in Long Beach, CA.Haven Demo will test in orbit critical systems such as compute, power, software, guidance and control, propulsion, radios, ground stations, mission control, and more, for Haven-1, the world’s first commercial space station set to launch in May 2026.This milestone represents months of cross-functional effort in engineering, mission assurance, manufacturing, supply chain, and integration. Each step strengthens our process and readiness for future missions.
If the Haven-Demo schedule slips, Haven-Demo could be launched on a different SpaceX rideshare mission that will put Haven-Demo in a polar, sun-synchronous orbit rather than a mid-inclination orbit. This different orbit would necessitate the use of these backup ground stations to provide polar coverage. Vast will amend its application should it change orbital inclinations.
NASA-supported commercial space station, Vast’s Haven-1, recently completed a test of a critical air filter system for keeping future astronauts healthy in orbit. Testing confirmed the system can maintain a safe and healthy atmosphere for all planned Haven-1 mission phases.Testing of the trace contaminant control system was completed at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, as part of a reimbursable Space Act Agreement. Vast also holds an unfunded Space Act Agreement with NASA as part of the second Collaborations for Commercial Space Capabilities initiative.The subsystem of the environmental control and life support system is comprised of various filters designed to scrub hazardous chemicals produced by both humans and materials on the commercial station. During the test, a representative chemical environment was injected into a sealed environmental chamber, and the filtration system was turned on to verify the trace contaminant control system could maintain a healthy atmosphere.“Testing of environmental control systems and subsystems is critical to ensure the health and safety of future commercial space station crews,” said Angela Hart, program manager for NASA’s Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development Program at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. “Through NASA’s agreements with Vast and our other industry partners, the agency is contributing technical expertise, technologies, services, and facilities to support companies in the development of commercial stations while providing NASA important insight into the development and readiness to support future agency needs and services in low Earth orbit.”Experts used the same environmental chamber at Marshall to test the International Space Station environmental control and life support system.The knowledge and data gained during the recent testing will help validate Vast’s Haven-1 and support future Haven-2 development.
We’ve completed the second circumferential weld on Haven-1’s flight primary structure. This is the second of ten such welds that are required to complete the station’s flight hull.
The era of commercial space stations begins with Haven-1, launching next year. Whether you're a sovereign nation, space agency, scientist, company, or private astronaut, the time is now. Join our mission and help pioneer the next giant leap in space exploration.
