Vast, the company developing next-generation space stations, announced that integration has begun on Haven-1. Scheduled to be the world’s first commercial space station, Haven-1 is designed as a standalone, crewed station and serves as the first step for Haven-2, a multi-module station capable of supporting a continuous human presence in low-Earth orbit (LEO) that is Vast’s proposed successor to the International Space Station (ISS).
Haven-1 is an integral part of the company’s hardware-rich development approach that is putting flight-hardware and systems through rigorous ground and in-space testing to accelerate learning, reduce technical and schedule risk, and unlock new commercial and government capabilities in LEO. Haven-1 is designed to expand access to space and provide an affordable platform for microgravity research, manufacturing, and both national and international space infrastructure.
The first phase of Haven-1 integration includes installation of the station’s pressurized fluid systems, including thermal control, life support, and propulsion system tubes, and component trays and tanks. These systems will undergo pressure, leak, and functional testing. The second phase of integration will incorporate avionics, guidance, navigation and control systems, and air revitalization hardware. The third and final phase will complete the vehicle with crew habitation and interior closeouts, exterior micrometeoroid and orbital debris (MMOD) shielding, thermal radiator installation, and solar array integration, bringing Haven-1 to a fully flight-ready configuration. Vast remains focused on completing integration and conducting a suite of system environmental tests at NASA’s Neil Armstrong Test Facility later in 2026.
Based on the current integration timeline, Vast is updating its schedule for Haven-1 to be ready to launch Q1 2027. Haven-1 is contracted to launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral, Florida. With each milestone, the team gains more data and greater certainty, enabling timelines to become progressively more precise. Haven-1 represents a true zero-to-one development, and as Vast moves on to its second, third, and subsequent stations, schedule precision will continue to improve as systems, processes, and integration maturity increases. Throughout this process, human safety remains the team’s top priority, with development and manufacturing pace carefully balanced to ensure mission integrity.
“From the beginning, our business plan has been about building a sustainable future in orbit, one that meets today’s market while creating the foundation for what comes next,” said Max Haot, CEO of Vast. “Haven-1 is not a concept; it is real, flight-tested hardware designed to carry forward a continuous human presence in low-Earth orbit for America and its allies. By vertically integrating design, manufacturing, testing, and operations, we’re moving with both speed and autonomy. Haven-1 brings the next era of space stations within reach and helps ensure there is no gap in our ability to live and work in space beyond the ISS.”
Vast’s hardware-rich, stepping-stone approach accelerates development while improving safety and reducing cost by building, testing, and flying systems early. This is reinforced by Vast’s vertically integrated model, which has already delivered a 10X reduction in primary structure manufacturing costs compared to traditional space station programs, while increasing capability, improving schedule certainty, and shortening manufacturing timelines.
Haven-1 Development: Recap of 2025 Milestones
Throughout 2025, Vast completed a series of major Haven-1 milestones, advancing the station from component-level development to a fully qualified flight structure.
In October, Vast installed and completed fit verification of the passive docking system on Haven-1, confirming mechanical alignment, and interface compatibility with visiting crewed spacecraft.
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In late 2025, Vast conducted acceptance testing of the Haven-1 flight primary structure, culminating in full-scale pressure testing at Vast’s testing site in Mojave, California. The flight primary structure was pressurized beyond nominal operating conditions to validate structural margins, weld integrity, and leak performance, marking a critical step toward human-rated operations.
The Haven-1 primary structure represents the second primary structure Vast has completed in one year and demonstrates the company’s leadership in returning space station manufacturing and testing to the United States after more than two decades.
Vast is now the only operational commercial space station company to have successfully flown and operated its own spacecraft in orbit. On November 2, 2025, Haven Demo, an in-orbit testbed for key space station technologies and the first step in our stepping stone approach, achieved mission success. Through Haven Demo, core systems, including power, avionics, ground systems, propulsion, and guidance, navigation, and control, were validated in space, directly informing the final design of Haven-1.
About Vast
Vast is developing next-generation space stations to ensure continuous human presence in space for America and its allies, enabling advanced microgravity research and manufacturing, and unlocking a new space economy for government, corporate, and private customers. Using an incremental, hardware-rich and low-cost approach, Vast is rapidly developing its multi-module Haven Station. Haven Demo’s 2025 success made Vast the only operational commercial space station company to fly and operate its own spacecraft. Next, Haven-1 is expected to become the world’s first commercial space station when it launches, followed by additional Haven modules to enable permanent human presence by 2030.
With more than 1,000 employees at its Long Beach, California headquarters and over a billion dollars in private capital invested, Vast has built the facilities required to manufacture and operate America’s next space station. The company plans to develop future habitats for the Moon and Mars, dedicated space stations for government partners, and other crewed systems that will unlock the expanding long-term space economy.
