NASA Collaborates with Long Beach’s Vast for Space Station Development

NASA is partnering with Long Beach aerospace company Vast Space (a.k.a. Vast), for the development of technology to be used for future commercial and government needs beyond Earth’s atmosphere, the agency has announced.

According to an official press release issued by Vast, through its Space Act agreement, the aerospace company is collaborating with NASA on the technology and operations required for its microgravity and artificial gravity stations. This includes the Haven-1, the world’s first commercial space station, which Vast has scheduled to be launched as early as 2025.

The company has said that the Haven-1 launch and all subsequent missions, if successful, would represent a major milestone in Vast Space’s larger projects, including, according to Vast’s long-term roadmap, the development of new starship-class space modules, as well spinning stick stations that will provide continuously crewed, artificial gravity environments for Earth, Lunar and Martian gravity.

Aside from Vast, NASA has also chosen several other U.S.-based aerospace companies for the collaboration project. The other companies include:

• Blue Origin, Kent, Washington.
• Northrop Grumman, Dulles, Virginia
• Sierra Space, Broomfield, Colorado
• SpaceX, Hawthorne, California
• Special Aerospace Services, Boulder, Colorado
• ThinkOrbital, Lafayette, Colorado

According to an official press release, NASA selected these proposals based on an evaluation of their relevance to achieving the agency’s goals and its ability to provide the requested resources, as well as the feasibility of the company’s business and technical approach. Each party bears the cost of its participation through the agreements.

NASA will be assisting the companies in their various efforts not with funding, but by providing technical expertise, assessments, technology and data through the Collaborations for Commercial Space Capabilities-2 initiative.

“It is great to see companies invest their own capital toward innovative commercial space capabilities, and we’ve seen how these types of partnerships benefit both the private sector and NASA,” Phil McAlister, director of commercial spaceflight at NASA, said in an official statement.

The collaboration is also part of NASA’s longstanding commitment to develop an American human presence in low-Earth orbit, the announcement said, citing their astronaut’s continued use of the International Space Station as a place to both work and live in.

“NASA is one of many customers and the private sector leads the way,” the announcement said. “This strategy will enable NASA to continue using low Earth orbit to foster scientific discovery and technology development that both improves life on Earth, and advances human exploration into deep space.”

According to an official statement, NASA’s support of a low Earth orbit economy is also aimed to boost both education and job growth in the fields of science and engineering, as well as spur economic growth with the creation of new space markets.

“The companies can leverage NASA’s vast knowledge and experience, and the agency can be a customer for the capabilities included in the agreements in the future,” Phil McAlister said. “Ultimately, these agreements will foster more competition for services and more providers for innovative space capabilities.”

Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson, who spearheaded the city’s efforts to help build out its aerospace industry since he took over the position in December - applauded the news on Vast’s collaboration with NASA.

“Congratulations to the team at Long Beach-headquartered Vast Space) who was selected by NASA as one of seven national partners,” Richardson wrote on Twitter. “They will help meet future commercial and government needs that will ultimately benefit human spaceflight and the U.S. commercial low-orbit economy.”

Vast Space’s Haven-1 will be launched into space by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. After that, a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft will fly out the first human flight to dock on the space station - where they’ll remain in Earth’s orbit for about a month.

For more information on Vast Space, as well as their official development roadmap, you can visit their official website at https://www.vastspace.com/.