Vast will send private astronauts to the ISS in summer 2027 under a contract with NASA announced on Thursday—a first for the space station company.
The LA-based company announced it signed a deal with NASA to launch the space agency’s sixth private astronaut mission, which is expected to bring astronauts to the ISS for two weeks. The previous five missions have all gone to competitor Axiom, which (like Vast) is building its own private station vying to replace the ISS.
State of play: NASA signed an order with Axiom for the agency’s first private astronaut mission to the ISS in 2021. For the first four missions, Axiom didn’t have any competition; it was the only CLD company actually flying private astronauts to the ISS.
But Vast CEO Max Haot threw his hat in the ring in 2024, announcing that Vast would be bidding on Missions Five and Six.
Axiom announced in January that it had won NASA’s fifth private astronaut mission.
What’s next: NASA is expected to award contracts for Phase 2 of its CLD program to at least two companies this year, before the fifth and sixth missions fly to the ISS in 2027. If that timeline holds, Axiom will still be the only company with experience managing crewed ISS missions when the awards are made. But NASA signing on to fly this mission with Vast just made the competition a whole lot more interesting.
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On Thursday, the space community was treated to not one, but two mega launchers blasting off.
The Ariane 64 and Vulcan rockets both got the job done. But issues with Vulcan’s flight will require some review before the rocket welcomes its next national security payload.
Vulcan view: A ULA Vulcan rocket lifted off from Florida at 4:22am, carrying a Space Force spacecraft to geosynchronous orbit—the rocket’s second mission under the National Security Space Launch program. The USSF-87 mission included hardware to improve SSA in GEO, as well as research and training systems aiming to help Space Force Guardians prepare and practice for potential conflict in orbit.
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