It’s a good plan, but NASA’s program to support commercial space stations, known as Commercial LEO Destinations (CLDs), is not moving forward quickly. Supporters of the CLD program say it has been underfunded from the start, and the strategy became more muddled last year when then-Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy changed the agency’s rules for private space stations. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman is reviewing the changes, and requirements for the stations may change again.
NASA spends more than $3 billion per year for ISS operations, including crew and cargo transportation services for personnel and outpost support. NASA’s budget for deep space exploration is approximately $7.8 billion in fiscal year 2026. NASA is receiving $273 million this year for the Commercial LEO Destination Program, with the money to be divided among several companies.
Any private space station to be profitable would need to sustain itself, at least partially, on commercial business. Developers have raised concerns that they will be unable to attract enough commercial business.– In areas such as pharmaceutical research, tech demos or space tourism-As long as the government-funded ISS is still working.
One of the companies competing for NASA funding is Vast, which plans to launch its first single-module private outpost into orbit as early as 2027. This first station, named Haven-1, will accommodate crew for short-term temporary stays. Giant plans to follow Haven-1 with a much larger multi-module station capable of supporting a permanent crew.
Max Haut, Vaast’s CEO, doesn’t seem concerned by lawmakers’ efforts to revisit the question of orbiting the International Space Station.
“The amendment directs NASA to study the feasibility of something other than deorbit and disposal after the end of the ISS’s life, which is separate from the issue of retiring the space station and transitioning it to commercial partners,” Haot said in a statement to Ars. “We support President Trump’s direction in the National Space Policy to replace the ISS by 2030, with commercial partners ensuring there is no gap in America’s continued human presence in space.”
Other top contenders in the commercial space station field are Starlab, a joint venture between Voyager Space and Airbus, the Blue Origin-led Orbital Reef project, and Axiom Space. Voyager and Blue Origin did not respond to Ars’ requests for comment, and an Axiom spokesperson was unable to provide a statement by publication time.
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