Spaceflight 🚀Where to book and what else to consider for your private #spaceflight 🚀 https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Space
20 things to see 📷 on the #Moon https://www.astronomy.com/observing/things-to-see-on-the-moon-an-observers-guide-to-lunar-names/
🧭 #Navigation : #Marble is a virtual globe 🌐 application which allows the user to choose among the #Earth, the #Moon, #Venus, #Mars and other planets 🪐 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marble_(software) | https://marble.kde.org
"Think of something profound to say on your arrival. Things that the #Apollo astronauts 👨🚀 said on their arrival includes [...] https://en.wikivoyage.org/w/index.php?title=Moon
4️⃣0️⃣ #SpaceStation & #SpaceHabitat companies https://www.factoriesinspace.com/space-stations
📆 2026 StarMax 400 m3 #Gravitics
📆 2026 LIFE Pathfinder 285 m3 #SierraSpace
📆 2026 Axiom Station #AxiomSpace
📆 2027 Haven-1 80 m3 #VastSpace
📆 2027 Lunar Gateway 125 m3 #NASA #ESA #CSA #JAXA
📆 2027 Orbital Reef 830 m3 #BlueOrigin #SierraSpace
📆 2027 Russian Orbital Service Station #Roscosmos
📆 2028 Starlab ~450 m3 #NanoRacks #VoyagerSpace #Airbus #MDASpace #Mitsubishi
📆 2028 Bharatiya Antariksha Station 265 m3 #ISRO
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_space_stations#Planned_and_proposed
"We now know it’s possible to equal or surpass the total habitable volume of the entire International #SpaceStation, in a single launch” 🚀 https://spacenews.com/sierra-space-conducts-second-full-scale-burst-test-of-inflatable-module/
60sRefugee@spaceflight Plus, for the first time since Skylab, we may have an orbital module wider than a hallway on the inside.
Von Braun Space Station 1956
• #AxiomStation is believed to have been downsized to two modules from the originally planned four.
• The #VAST #Haven-2’s first module is scheduled to launch in 📆 2028
• #OrbitalReef is designed with 830 cubic meters of internal volume, 90 percent of the internal volume on the #ISS
• #Starlab launch is scheduled for 📆 2028
https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2024/10/commercial-space-stations/
• The #VAST #Haven-2’s first module is scheduled to launch in 📆 2028
• #OrbitalReef is designed with 830 cubic meters of internal volume, 90 percent of the internal volume on the #ISS
• #Starlab launch is scheduled for 📆 2028
https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2024/10/commercial-space-stations/
#Competition accelerates #innovation : "What if we actually build a #SpaceStation, launch 🚀 it in #orbit, have a crew 👨🚀 of four go to it, spend two weeks at least in the space station, and come back home safely…before the U.S. #government makes their decision?” (in 📆 2026) https://youtu.be/us_V_e0-NVs?feature=shared&t=205
The Race to Replace the ISS | VAST's American-Made Space Station
The primary structure of the #SpaceStation was built in just 15 months. #Haven1 is expected to be launched in 📆 May 2026. It consists of a cylindrical module measuring 10 meters in length and 4.40 meters in diameter. The 45 cubic meter habitat got 1.10 meter windows. Four #Haven2 modules are to be in space by 📆 2030. The station is to grow to nine modules by 📆 2032. https://www.heise.de/en/news/Haven-1-Vast-Space-wants-to-launch-its-private-space-station-into-space-in-2026-10277222.html
#ThalesAlenia Space Italia 🇮🇹 will deliver the Payload Power Thermal Module to Axiom in 2025 for final outfitting and a launch 🚀 no earlier than 📆 2027. Axiom would then launch the first #habitat module, #Hab1, in 📆 2028 https://spacenews.com/axiom-space-revises-space-station-assembly-plans
The Gravitics #SpaceStation modules range from 3 meters to 8 meters 📏 in diameter. The company aims to provide space station modules as a plug-and-play product line that can launch on a variety of #rockets. #Gravitics plans to have a subscale spacecraft launched by 📆 2026 https://www.cnbc.com/2024/07/09/gravitics-lands-125-million-order-from-axiom.html
#Musk has likely told #Trump that #NASA does not need to fund private space stations in #LEO. A version of #Starship could be developed to provide a semi-permanent presence. This would wreck the business plans of multiple #US companies working to provide this capability for NASA. https://arstechnica.com/features/2025/02/elon-musk-recommends-that-the-international-space-station-be-deorbited-asap/
#Vast has completed the final weld on the primary structure of its #Haven1 private #SpaceStation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2qFOJc8iZo
Next steps include integrating the flight article's hatch and a domed window. The #Falcon9 for the launch is booked, and liftoff could take place as soon as the second quarter of 📆 2026 https://www.space.com/space-exploration/human-spaceflight/vast-gearing-up-to-launch-its-haven-1-private-space-station-in-2026
Next steps include integrating the flight article's hatch and a domed window. The #Falcon9 for the launch is booked, and liftoff could take place as soon as the second quarter of 📆 2026 https://www.space.com/space-exploration/human-spaceflight/vast-gearing-up-to-launch-its-haven-1-private-space-station-in-2026
Haven-1 Virtual Reality - Available Now for Download
• #Vast plans to send the 45 m3 #Haven1 to orbit in 📆 2026, the 55 m3 #Haven2 in 📆 2028
• #AxiomSpace plans to launch its first module to the #ISS in 📆 2027, later joined by two 11 x 4.2 meter (145 m3) habitable modules
• #Airbus and #VoyagerSpace plan to launch the 450 m3 #Starlab 📆 2028
• #SierraSpace and #BlueOrigin start operating the 830 m3 #OrbitalReef by the end of the decade
Kilometer-Scale #SpaceStructures will rely heavily on recent advances in mechanical metamaterials that have shown the potential to expand to 150 times their compressed size. It could rotate to create artificial #gravity without giving its inhabitants motion sickness 🤢 https://www.me.washington.edu/news/article/2021-02-25/nasa-selects-lipton-futuristic-space-concept
A high-expansion-ratio structure can be deployed to a final length of one kilometer on #orbit 🌌 as part of a large #SpaceStation https://www.nasa.gov/general/kilometer-scale-space-structures-from-a-single-launch-2/
When will #SpaceTourism to orbit 🌌 or beyond be available other than to the #ISS, #Tiangong or (to stay) in a #Dragon / #Starliner capsule ? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_tourism#Orbital_space_tourism
#Haven2 #Starlab #OrbitalReef #VoyagerSpace #VoyagerStation #journalism #SpaceHotel #Starship #NewGlenn #Gaganyaan #HumanSpaceflight
2027
2028
2029
> 2030
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#ISS : 2001 Dennis Tito 2002 Mark Shuttleworth 2005 Gregory Olsen 2006 Anousheh Ansari 2007, 2009 Charles Simonyi 2008 Richard Garriott 2009 Guy Laliberté 2021 Yusaku Maezawa, Yozo Hirano 2022 Eytan Stibbe, Larry Connor, Mark Pathy 2023 John Shoffner
#LEO : 2021 Jared Isaacman, Sian Proctor, Hayley Arceneaux, Christopher Sembroski 2024 Jared Isaacman, Scott Poteet, Sarah Gillis, Anna Menon 2025 Chun Wang, Jannicke Mikkelsen, Eric Philips, Rabea Rogge
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_tourism#List_of_space_tourism_trips
13 private #visitors from seven countries 🌍 have visited the #ISS https://www.nasa.gov/international-space-station/space-station-visitors-by-country
#NASA is supporting the development of #commercially-owned and operated #LEO destinations from which NASA, along with other #customers 🧑🚀, can purchase #services 🛌 🍽️ https://www.nasa.gov/reference/jsc-orbital-space-stations/#hds-sidebar-nav-4
Phase 2 includes an in-space crewed 🧑🚀 demonstration of four crew members for a minimum of 30 days. The agency’s phased approach will culminate in a full and open #competition https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/commercial-space/leo-economy/nasa-seeks-industry-input-on-next-phase-of-commercial-space-stations
#Axiom Station is designed to look like a boutique #hotel and is expected to launch in 📆 2028. #VoyagerSpace aims to launch its version, called #Starlab, the same year, and #BlueOrigin’s #OrbitalReef #SpaceStation plans to follow in 2030.
While the cost of a stay aboard any of these outposts has not been released, expect ticket 🎫 prices in the tens of millions of dollars at first https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/01/12/1130030/commercial-space-stations-2026-breakthrough-technology/
The first #LIFE module for #OrbitalReef is a three-story structure, 8 meters in diameter 📏, a massive amount of open, configurable volume. #Blue Origin is providing the #NewGlenn heavy-lift launch 🚀 capability. A realistic operational date is estimated to be post-📆 2028.
#Starlab launch date 📆 2028: if the single launch on #Starship works, they will have a complete station in orbit overnight ⏱️.
As of late 2025, #Axiom is winning the hardware race https://newspaceeconomy.ca/2025/11/14/what-is-orbital-reef
What Is Orbital Reef? - New Space Economy
For more than two decades, the International Space Station (ISS) has served as humanity's outpost in low Earth orbit. It stands as an unparalleled achievement in global cooperation, engineering, and orbital science. Floating 250 miles above the planet, it has been continuously occupied by humans since the year 2000, hosting thousands of experiments that have advanced fields from human biology to materials science. It is, in every sense, a laboratory, a home, and a symbol.
Isaac Ji Kuo@spaceflight My god this is so much stupider than I ever thought. It's just a grift for funneling taxpayer money to billionaire techbros.
"The goal is to transition NASA from being an owner and operator of orbital infrastructure to being just one of many customers in a new, robust, and commercially-run economy in low Earth orbit."
Translation - we are stupid. There aren't any other customers.
"A “Mixed-Use Business Park” in Space"
That's just throwing money at techbros for nothing.
Heck,
@spaceflight business parks here on Earth are just throwing money at already wealthy techbros for NOTHING. It's like how taxpayer money is thrown into football stadiums for basically no benefits, but at least in that case a fraction of the taxpayers nevertheless support it because they're sports fans and they don't mind forcing their neighbors to pay for something they don't want.
Techbro business parks? The promise everything and deliver nothing, even here on Earth. In space? Forget about it.
@spaceflight I remember back when the big thing was tech business parks for big spam phone call centers. Like they seriously thought this was the big thing that was going to bring lots of great jobs to a city.
Like we were going to love all these great jobs randomly calling each other to try and spam and scam each other.
And I felt like I was taking crazy pills. How did anyone not see that this was even dumber than turnips?
@isaackuo I think I didn't get the point, is it something about the bad parts of #competition ? https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Competition
@spaceflight No, not a problem with competition, but rather a problem with lack of business potential. We've been hearing the same things about manned space manufacturing and such since the Space Shuttle in the 1970s. The business case simply is not there.
There's a case to be made that we want manned spaceflight anyway, and a spin gravity station to study the physiological effects of lunar/martian gravity is worthwhile.
But business profit? That's nonsense. Just a grift to bilk taxpayers.
@isaackuo I presume the majority of manufacturing will be #robotic, but they predict a market "from mining and construction to #hospitality" https://www.pwc.com/us/en/industries/industrial-products/library/space-industry-trends.html. There are enough potential "first customers" for #SpaceTourism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_billionaires and just as in aviation #LaunchCost prices will fall (as soon as enough human-rated rockets are available). There are at least several dozen companies which believe in business potential https://www.factoriesinspace.com/space-stations
@spaceflight Space Tourism is a dud, and investors are wising up to this. That's why these loser startups have turned to saying they'll get money from NASA and (ha ha ha) "other" paying customers for manned space station space. It's pathetic.
They're all chasing a severely limited amount of NASA money, and there isn't enough to keep even one of them afloat, much less several dozen.
woe2you@isaackuo @spaceflight There are 70ish national space agencies and a handful of international ones. I agree that privatisation is a grift, but NASA isn't the only target.
@woe2you @spaceflight I need you to look at this chart of space agency budgets by country.
NASA is the only target.
@isaackuo @spaceflight I'm getting a 403 on that.
@woe2you @spaceflight Look up space agency budgets by country yourself, then. It's not difficult.
Global space agency spending is NASA, CNSA in a far second, and rounding errors.
@isaackuo @spaceflight It's a little difficult when Cloudfront decides I can't get to Statista at all and I should probably be spending my energy on resolving that instead, but the figures I'm seeing say CNSA, ESA, ISRO and JAXA combined make up a bigger slice of the pie than NASA.
I get that it's pointless arguing with US defaultism especially when it's delivered in such a condescending manner so I'm just going to bow out now.
@woe2you @spaceflight US defaultism would be assuming that China has any interesting in renting volatile for-profit American techbro space station space, when they have their own space station that costs them a lot less money and will actually stay operating in orbit because it has a stable funding source and a stable supporting infrastructure.
And the orange moron in the White House has burned bridges so forget about ESA and Canada. And India? Seriously?
Maybe JAXA might still buy American.
📆 April 2026 #CLD Phase 2 awards trigger immediate hiring, facility investment, and supply chain commitments. Initial module launches 🚀 anticipated in 📆 2028-2029 for most designs. NASA requires stations to achieve operational capability before #ISS deorbit, currently planned for 2030. Companies must execute flawlessly or risk losing #NASA’s anchor tenancy to competitors who deliver operational capability 🌌 first https://www.exterrajsc.com/p/congressional-budget-victory-cements
The companies at the forefront of the #CLD competition:
• #Vast is expecting to launch 🚀 its #Haven1 #SpaceStation in Q1 📆 2027
• #Axiom Space is planning to launch a two-module station by 📆 2028
• #Starlab, which is being built by a joint venture between #Voyager Technologies and #Airbus, is aiming to launch its station in 📆 2029
https://payloadspace.com/payload-field-guide-commercial-leo-destination/
#SpaceX is set to have the capacity to launch #Starship 146 times* a year from its sites at 39A, SLC-37, and #Starbase https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2026/01/faa-advances-approval-44-starship-launches-39a
* Payload ~14000 t / 89000 m3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX_Starship
In 2025, only about 3000 tons of payload was launched into orbit. With launches every hour carrying 200 tons per flight, #Starship will deliver millions of tons to orbit and beyond per year https://www.spacex.com/updates#xai-joins-spacex
Picture : 2006 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Elon_Musk_at_MSC_2006.jpg
Kevin RussellHow do we stop it?
• The first #AxiomStation module is expected to launch 📆 2028, where it will dock onto the #ISS
• Less than a year later, the second module will rendezvousing with the first module and creating a four-crew capable station
• #AxiomStation will continuing a revenue 💵 model that the company has demonstrated through #private flights to the ISS, with options to host scaled #manufacturing programs of #pharmaceuticals, silicon #wafers, and fiber #optics
https://payloadspace.com/axiom-space-raises-350m-to-fuel-station-suit-development/
• Less than a year later, the second module will rendezvousing with the first module and creating a four-crew capable station
• #AxiomStation will continuing a revenue 💵 model that the company has demonstrated through #private flights to the ISS, with options to host scaled #manufacturing programs of #pharmaceuticals, silicon #wafers, and fiber #optics
https://payloadspace.com/axiom-space-raises-350m-to-fuel-station-suit-development/
#Vast and other commercial #SpaceStation developers are waiting for #NASA to release the final request for proposals. Delays ⏳ in the release of that procurement was one reason for extending the life of the #ISS by two years, to the end of 2032 https://spacenews.com/vast-raises-500-million-for-commercial-space-station-development/
Clarity would only come through the issuance of a “request for proposals” that would lay out specifically what #NASA wanted. “Commercial industry is already investing over twice as much as NASA has spent on CLDs over the past five years, but NASA thinks it understands #commercial market potential better than private investors and want to cut CLD’s budget while extending #ISS’ lifetime” https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/03/what-happens-next-with-nasas-plan-to-replace-the-iss-source-it-could-get-ugly/
For $90 million, in one single launch, Voyager will put in orbit a #SpaceStation with 400 cubic meters of volume, able to support 100% of the work that's currently being done aboard #ISS https://www.fool.com/investing/2026/03/21/how-much-will-a-spacex-starship-launch-cost/
#Vast’s Large Docking Adapter has a 2.9-meter pressurized opening, it reaches up to 6.6 square meters — offering roughly 13 times more area than the #IDA. Vast claims it is up to 30 times more rigid than the International Docking Adapter. The company plans to #OpenSource the Large Docking Adapter Standard next month, inviting other #spacecraft and station developers to implement it https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2026/04/vast-astronaut-flight-suit-docking-adapter
Summer 2026
Winter 2026
2027
2028
Poll ended at .
Flight 13 is expected to be the first #orbital 🌌 flight of #Starship, as well as the first to target a tower catch 🦾 of the upper stage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX_Starship#2026
The first flight of Starship V3 will look a lot like #SpaceX’s past Starship test flights. The following flight will bring the ship back for a reentry over northern #Mexico and recovery back at SpaceX’s test facility at #Starbase, Texas. Chance of a successful 👍 Starship catch happening in 2026: 70 percent https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/01/here-are-the-launches-and-landings-were-most-excited-about-in-2026/
📆 October 13, 2024 : 1st booster catch 🦾 2:15 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hI9HQfCAw64
#Starship executed a controlled reentry, passing through the phases of peak heating 🔥 and maximum aerodynamic pressure, before executing a flip, landing burn, and splashdown at its target area in the Indian Ocean 🌊
Starship | Fifth Flight Test
Starship’s fifth flight test lifted off on October 13, 2024, with our most ambitious test objectives yet as we work to demonstrate techniques fundamental to ...
#SpaceX aims to launch the first #Starship flight 🚀 from #KennedySpaceCenter later this year, following a series of flights from the company’s #Starbase test site in South Texas https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/02/heres-why-americas-most-historic-launch-pad-is-getting-yet-another-facelift/
Modifications add approximately 100 metric tons 📈 of usable propellant ⛽.#Raptor 3 is dramatically simpler, with significantly higher thrust 💪. #SpaceX has largely phased out adhesive tile attachment in favor of mechanical pins. Docking hardware is plainly visible, ready for the first in-orbit propellant-transfer demonstrations.https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2026/03/ship-39-preflight-test-objectives/
Michael Nicolls, senior vice-president for #Starlink at #SpaceX : “We’ll be able to launch more than 50 satellites 🛰️ on every launch [using #Starship] and we’ll begin launching in 📆 mid-2027”.
A Starship test flight is expected in the next “four to six weeks”. Asked whether SpaceX’s priority was to reach the #Moon 🌙 or #Mars 🔴 first, #Shotwell said both were important to the company’s mission https://www.ft.com/content/de219ce9-75d1-4559-b6d5-b37ae26175f0
#SpaceX launched 165 #Falcon9 missions in 2025. Of those, 122 - or ~74% - were dedicated #Starlink launches.
“We thought we had the launch thing solved, but it’s actually now a bit of a pain in the butt to get manifested on SpaceX. You have to go through launch integrators. They buy up all capacity”
https://payloadspace.com/the-state-of-launch-2026/
The State of Launch 2026
“You look at things like Golden Dome. There were a couple of capability gates there where you had to demonstrate capability by deadlines in order to be eligible to continue to compete,” Brian Rogers, Rocket Lab’s VP of launch, told Payload. “The constraints around launch can pick winners and losers there if you don’t have a way to get to space by a deadline.”
raptop (𒀯 𒄷 𒄈𒀭𒁇)@spaceflight I took the optimistic approach since it looks like Haven-1 is much closer to launch than I was expecting.
@spaceflight Assuming that everything we do in space has to be compressed into the payload fairing of a rocket and launched in one piece.
If we're ever going to truly be a spacefaring species we are eventually going to have to learn to BUILD stuff there.
If we're ever going to truly be a spacefaring species we are eventually going to have to learn to BUILD stuff there.
@60sRefugee do you mean by #AsteroidMining or just the construction from launched materials ?
@spaceflight The latter would certainly be a start; the former would imply an entire space-based industrial infrastructure which we're still a long way from.
@60sRefugee Some are just waiting for lower #LaunchCost https://www.factoriesinspace.com/space-resources
#Vast will send #private astronauts 🧑🚀 to the #ISS in summer 📆 2027 under a contract with #NASA. In 2021, #Axiom didn’t have any #competition https://payloadspace.com/vast-wins-its-first-private-astronaut-mission-to-iss/
#Haven1 will support up to 4 crewed missions, each lasting 10 days and carrying 4 crew members. 🚀 1st Quarter, 2027 https://nextspaceflight.com/launches/details/7159/
#Haven1 launch delayed to Q1 📆 2027. #Axiom Space and #Starlab are planning to launch two module stations in 📆 2028 and 📆 2029 https://payloadspace.com/vast-delays-haven-1-launch-to-2027/
#Axiom Space is nearly finished with the first module of its Axiom Station. It plans to attach it to the #ISS in 📆 2027. Before 2030, Axiom will detach that module from the ISS and continue building it out, with a goal of reaching twice the usable volume 📏 of the current station https://www.space.com/space-exploration/international-space-station/will-the-international-space-station-be-replaced-before-its-fiery-death-in-2030
