This is a list of current and planned commercial space stations.
While commercial space flights have been flown to the International Space Station, there are currently no commercial space stations in operation.
Axiom Orbital Segment or Axiom Segment are the planned components of the International Space Station (ISS) designed by Axiom Space for commercial space activities and space tourism uses. Axiom Space gained initial NASA approval for the venture in January 2020. This orbital segment is planned to be separated from the ISS to become a separate space station, Axiom Station, after deorbiting of the latter. It is unsure what launch vehicles will be used to launch these modules.
Up to three Axiom modules are planned to be attached to the International Space Station. The first module is expected to be launched no earlier than late 2026 [1] and would dock to the forward port of Harmony, requiring relocation of Pressurized Mating Adapter (PMA-2) to any other ports on ISS like Harmony nadir. Axiom Space plans to attach up to two additional modules to its first core module, and send private astronauts to inhabit the modules. [2]
Axiom renderings illustrate how the three modules might attach to the ISS as they are berthed and relocated by the Mobile Servicing System using Canadarm2. Canadarm2 might also continue its operations on the Axiom Space Station after the retirement of ISS in the early 2030s. [3] [4]
On October 25, 2021, Blue Origin announced that together with Sierra Space it would build a 'Mixed-use space business park' in LEO called Orbital Reef, to 'open multiple new markets in space, [and] provide anyone with the opportunity to establish their own address on orbit. [..it] will offer research, industrial, international, and commercial customers the cost competitive end-to-end services they need including space transportation and logistics, space habitation, equipment accommodation, and operations including onboard crew. The station will start operating in the second half of this decade..' [5] Further partners are Boeing, Redwire Space, Genesis Engineering Solutions, and Arizona State University. [6]
Starlab is the name given to the planned LEO space station designed by Nanoracks for commercial space activities uses. The station is expected to be launched in 2028.
The company released preliminary plans in October 2021, where the main structure of Starlab consisted of a large inflatable habitat to be built by Lockheed Martin and a metallic docking node. In 2023, the design changed to a metallic structure with Airbus Space as the main partner. [7]
The station is being designed to support 4 persons in 340 m3 of volume. The station also features a 60 kW power and propulsion element, a large robotic arm for servicing cargo and external payloads. The company has partnered with other companies to realise the project: [8]
In May 2023, Vast announced that they had purchased a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch for the Haven-1 space station, targeted for launch as early as August 2025. [9]
Bigelow Aerospace proposed an expandable space station for commercial use. Air would have be pumped into the station to inflate each piece once they arrived on orbit. Bigelow ceased operations in 2020.
In December 2021, Northrop Grumman signed a Space Act Agreement with NASA under the Commercial Low-Earth Orbit Development program for $125.6 million to design a commercial free-flying space station in low Earth orbit (LEO). [10] Northrop Grumman has a web page describing their "vision for space-as-a-service" which "focuses on delivering an accessible, full-service commercial space station in Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) that will continue the work of the International Space Station (ISS), while expanding across multiple markets to provide optimized and tailored support for a new commercial economy." Northrop Grumman is partnering with Rhodium Scientific on bio-tech and bio-pharma research in low-earth orbit.
In October 2023, Northrop-Grumman announced that they would abandon the concept and instead join forces on Voyager's Starlab space station. [11]
The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station assembled and maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA, Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (Japan), ESA (Europe), and CSA (Canada). The ISS is the largest space station ever built. Its primary purpose is to perform microgravity and space environment experiments.
A space station is a spacecraft which remains in orbit and hosts humans for extended periods of time. It therefore is an artificial satellite featuring habitation facilities. The purpose of maintaining a space station varies depending on the program. Most often space stations have been research stations, but they have also served military or commercial uses, such as hosting space tourists.
The Mobile Servicing System (MSS), is a robotic system on board the International Space Station (ISS). Launched to the ISS in 2001, it plays a key role in station assembly and maintenance; it moves equipment and supplies around the station, supports astronauts working in space, and services instruments and other payloads attached to the ISS and is used for external maintenance. Astronauts receive specialized training to enable them to perform these functions with the various systems of the MSS.
The process of assembling the International Space Station (ISS) has been under way since the 1990s. Zarya, the first ISS module, was launched by a Proton rocket on 20 November 1998. The STS-88 Space Shuttle mission followed two weeks after Zarya was launched, bringing Unity, the first of three node modules, and connecting it to Zarya. This bare 2-module core of the ISS remained uncrewed for the next one and a half years, until in July 2000 the Russian module Zvezda was launched by a Proton rocket, allowing a maximum crew of three astronauts or cosmonauts to be on the ISS permanently.
Cygnus is an expendable American cargo spacecraft used for International Space Station (ISS) logistics missions. Cygnus was developed by Orbital Sciences Corporation, partially funded by NASA under the agency's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program. To create Cygnus, Orbital paired the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module, built by Thales Alenia Space and previously used by the Space Shuttle for ISS logistics, with a service module based on Orbital's GEOStar, a satellite bus. After a successful demonstration flight in 2013, Orbital was chosen to receive a Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract. A larger Enhanced Cygnus was introduced in 2015. Orbital Sciences was renamed Orbital ATK in 2015 and Northrop Grumman purchased Orbital in 2018 and has continued to operate Cygnus missions.
The US Orbital Segment (USOS) is the name given to the components of the International Space Station (ISS) constructed and operated by the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), European Space Agency (ESA), Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The segment consists of eleven pressurized components and various external elements, almost all of which were delivered by the Space Shuttle.
Nanoracks LLC is a private in-space services company which builds space hardware and in-space repurposing tools. The company also facilitates experiments and launches of CubeSats to Low Earth Orbit.
DreamUp PBC is a Public-benefit corporation that offers space-based educational activities. DreamUp is a spin-off and sister company of Nanoracks LLC, a private spaceflight company. Nanoracks gives DreamUp access to research opportunities on the U.S. National Lab on board the International Space Station.
Axiom Space, Inc., also known as Axiom Space, is an American privately funded space infrastructure developer headquartered in Houston, Texas.
NG-14, previously known as OA-14, was the fifteenth flight of the Northrop Grumman robotic resupply spacecraft Cygnus and its fourteenth flight to the International Space Station under the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-1) contract with NASA. The mission was launched on 3 October 2020, at 01:16:14 UTC.
NG-15, previously known as OA-15, was the fifteenth launch of the Northrop Grumman robotic resupply spacecraft Cygnus and its fourteenth flight to the International Space Station (ISS) under the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract with NASA. The mission launched on 20 February 2021 at 17:36:50 UTC. This is the fourth launch of Cygnus under the CRS-2 contract.
Axiom Mission 1 was a privately funded and operated crewed mission to the International Space Station (ISS). The mission was operated by Axiom Space out of Axiom's Mission Control Center MCC-A in Houston, Texas. The flight launched on 8 April 2022 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The spacecraft used was a SpaceX Crew Dragon. The crew consisted of Michael López-Alegría, an American born in Spain and a professionally trained astronaut hired by Axiom, Eytan Stibbe from Israel, Larry Connor from the United States, and Mark Pathy from Canada.
Axiom Orbital Segment or Axiom Segment are the planned modular components of the International Space Station (ISS) designed by Houston, Texas-based Axiom Space for commercial space activities. Axiom Space gained initial NASA approval for the venture in January 2020. Axiom Space was later awarded the contract by NASA on February 28, 2020. This orbital station will be separated from the ISS to become a modular space station, Axiom Station, after the ISS is decommissioned.
NG-16, previously known as OA-16, was the sixteenth flight of the Northrop Grumman robotic resupply spacecraft Cygnus and its fifteenth flight to the International Space Station (ISS) under the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-2) contract with NASA. The mission was launched on 10 August 2021 at 22:01:05 UTC, for a (planned) 90-day mission at the ISS. This was the fifth launch of Cygnus under the CRS-2 contract.
NG-19 was the nineteenth flight of the Northrop Grumman robotic resupply spacecraft Cygnus and its eighteenth flight to the International Space Station (ISS) under the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-2) contract with NASA. The mission launched on 2 August 2023 at 00:31:14 UTC. This was the eighth launch of Cygnus under the CRS-2 contract.
Orbital Reef is an under development low Earth orbit (LEO) space station being designed by Blue Origin and Sierra Nevada Corporation's Sierra Space for commercial space activities and space tourism uses. Blue Origin has referred to it as a "mixed-use business park". The companies released preliminary concepts for the station on 25 October 2021. The station is being designed to support 10 persons in 830 m3 of volume. As of March 2022, the station was projected to be operational by 2027.
Starlab is a planned LEO commercial space station, which is expected to launch no earlier than 2028. It is currently being designed by Starlab Space, a joint venture between Voyager Space and Airbus. It is planned to be launched before the decommissioning of the ISS.
The Commercial LEO Destinations program is a public/private partnership program of the NASA, to help facilitate the building of private commercial space stations (CSSs) in low Earth orbit.
Ondler said in the briefing that the first of those modules is now scheduled to launch to the ISS at the end of 2026, about a year later than the company previously announced.