Vast’s Commercial Space Station Efforts and their Collaborations with NASA

Tuesday - November 7 2023, 08:48 UTC - 1 year ago

In June 2023, Vast launched its Orbiter SN3 mission aboard SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket. The mission was undefined due to an orbital spinning speed issue. The incident caused Vast to delay its SN5 mission until February 2024, as well as initiated the hiring of a former NASA astronaut advisor. Additionally, Axiom Space was granted the capability to connect its modules to the International Space Station, and Vast was provided with agreements from NASA to create artificial gravity stations. Combined, companies like Vast and Axiom Space continue to push research and exploration of space through its commercial space station efforts.

In June 2023, Vast commenced its SN3 mission by launching its Orbiter aboard SpaceX"s Falcon 9 rocket on their Transporter-8 mission The Orbiter was attached to Starfish Space"s Otter Pup and would go on to separate from it in the following months. However, on June 21st, Vast president Max Haot stated that the Orbiter SN3 was improperly spinning at 60 rpm. Vast chose to immediately deploy all the small sat payloads on board and then stated that Otter Pup"s primary mission can"t be accomplished.The SN3"s failure caused the delay of the Orbiter SN5 mission to fall back from fall 2023 to February 2024.

After the SN3 mission, Vast received a Collaborations for Commercial Space Capabilities-2 (CCSC-2) agreement from NASA to help develop artificial gravity stations a few days later. NASA will provide Vast with technical expertise, assessments, data, and more. Vast selected Impulse Space to develop Haven-1"s propulsion system.

On July 11, 2023, Vast announced that it had hired former NASA astronaut Garrett Reisman to advise the company on its commercial space station efforts.A few weeks later, Vast announced that Jeb McCaleb would be stepping down from his role as CEO, and that Max Haot would succeed him as CEO. Vast also announced that it had hired Alex Hudson to be its first CTO.

Axiom Space is preparing for a 2026 launch of the first section of their next-generation platform that will operate in low-Earth orbit. Axiom Space is the only current company with the privilege of connecting its modules to the International Space Station. Axiom Station"s first module is under construction and is scheduled to launch to the ISS by 2026. Additional modules will follow to build out Axiom Station, which will be ready to separate from the ISS and operate independently, in support of customers around the world, by 2031 when NASA plans to retire the ISS. Axiom Space has about 790 employees and Vast is in the range of 120 to 200 employees.