The vast space is taking a major step towards orbiting the first commercial space station.
The California-based startup recently completed a major test milestone for its upcoming Haven-1 station qualification vessels. It was also used to reevaluate the launch date of the company’s first flight-ready module.
“After the primary structural qualification test and fully assembled team complete, the build and launch schedule is now clearer, and as a result, we are updating our timeline,” Vast said. statement.
The Haven-1 is in low-earth orbit from the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. This is the first mission planned for August. Currently, Vast is hoping that the Haven-1 will be released sooner than May 2026.
Despite the delay, it is still a “ambitious timeline,” the company said. But vast and still optimistic. “If everything goes as planned, it’s a pace that we’ve never achieved in human spaceflight, designing, building and launching the world’s first commercial space station in three years.”
Vast began manufacturing Haven-1 qualification articles at its Long Beach headquarters in July 2024, and last month transported the modules to its company’s test stands in Mojave, California. So the module launched a series of campaigns to qualify for the structural integrity of the module. These campaigns are ongoing, but the ones that have recently passed were important hurdles for the ongoing development of the module.
Dry nitrogen was used to pressurize the modules on the test stand twice. This is 5 hours, and the second is 48 hours. According to company data, the Haven-1’s pressure sensors showed “continuous” leak rates, exceeding vessel requirements and fell into compliance with the spacecraft qualifications assessed by NASA crews.
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That last bit is important. Vast hopes to win a bid for NASA’s Commercial LEO Destination (CLD) contract in 2026, and wants to pre-empt himself ahead of the competition.
With the International Space Station (ISS) approaching retirement at the end of 2030, NASA was eager to help businesses get their commercial space stations up and running. Certainly, half a dozen other private candidates have plans to build their own Leo destinations, including Northrop Grumman, Axiom Space, Nanoracks and Sierra Space.
As these companies step on the water while measuring market demand and continuing to develop stations in the background, Vast is able to bring Haven-1 into orbit in record time. They said they were on the road and began actively searching for clients and scientists in research they wanted to fly into space.
Over the next few weeks, the test module will be submitted to the startup pressure of simulation using a hydraulic actuator on a Mojave test stand and undergo structural load tests during the pressure.
Even if the qualification article launched its testing campaign at the end of last month, Vast was already manufacturing the Haven-1 flight vehicle. As the qualification module coincides with a six-month pace from manufacturing to testing with Mojave, the vast objective aims to complete the main structure of the flight module by July this year. The company’s complete timeline is now via the first crew mission to Haven-1:
| milestone | explanation | Target date |
|---|---|---|
| Flight Primary Structure | Complete manufacturing and testing of flight primary structures | July 2025 |
| Integration | Vehicle integration and checkout including subsystem manufacturing and testing | July 2025 – December 2025 |
| Integrated vehicle test | Environmental Test Campaigns (Acoustics, Vibration, EMI, TVAC) | January 2026 – March 2026 |
| Starting a launch campaign | Pre-release operations at the start-up site | April 2026 – May 2026 |
| launch | Start Haven-1 | Net May 2026 |
| Automatic orbit operation | System test run on orbit | May – June 2026 |
| First crew | First crew | End of the internet in June 2026 |
When the Haven-1 is running in orbit, it plans to launch four crew members on the front post base on the SpaceX Crew Dragon. The mission lasts around two weeks as astronauts check out the station’s systems and livability.
Looking further, Vast has already announced plans for the Haven-2. This is the second modular design that docks into the Haven-1 to increase the capacity and capabilities of the space station. Vast is currently targeting the first Haven-2 launch of 2028, and plans to add it to modular stations until 2032, eventually going beyond the current capabilities of the ISS.
