SpaceX plans to send private crews to the International Space Station (ISS) in partnership with a California start-up, the two companies announced Thursday.
These missions have yet to be approved by NASA and will be carried out jointly with the company Vast, which has also positioned itself to launch the world’s first commercial space station as early as next year. They constitute “a key element of Vast’s strategy, which will allow us to strengthen our collaboration with NASA and global space agencies,” declared in a press release the general director of the Californian start-up, Max Haot, who does not did not give a timetable for these missions.
“I am delighted to work with Vast which is creating more opportunities and destinations to allow more people to travel among the stars,” said SpaceX number 2, Gwynne Shotwell. SpaceX has already carried out three private missions to the ISS with Axiom Space and is preparing for a fourth.
Elon Musk’s company also collaborated with American billionaire Jared Isaacman as part of the Polaris program, which made history in September with the very first spacewalk carried out by non-professional astronauts. Isaacman was chosen by Donald Trump to become the next head of NASA, a new illustration of the expansion of public/private partnerships in the space domain.
Vast also revealed that it was in active discussions with several governments, including that of the Czech Republic, for future missions. With the ISS expected to be decommissioned in 2030, Vast is one of several companies competing to build and launch the world’s first private space station.
Founded in 2021, the Californian company plans to launch a first station, Haven-1, in 2025, followed by Haven-2, a larger station designed to replace the ISS. “Vast’s long-term ambition is to create artificial gravity homes to enable humans to live in space,” according to the company.
Other competitors include Axiom Space, Voyager Space, which works with Airbus, and Jeff Bezos’ company Blue Origin, in collaboration with Sierra Space.
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