February 26, 20259 min readPrivate Space Stations of the Future Promise Luxury. But Can They Deliver?Several companies have contracts with NASA to design private space habitats to replace the International Space Station once its goneBy Sarah Scoles edited by Clara MoskowitzAn illustration of the planned Starlab space station. Image courtesy of StarlabNASA wants to get out of the space station business and put it in the hands of, well, businesses. The agency is planning to send the International Space Station (ISS) to a fiery death through Earths atmosphere in 2031 so it can focus on its longer-term, farther-out (literally) goals such as going back to the moon. Elon Musk recently called for the agency to deorbit the station much sooner.But agency officials are hoping humans will still have a future in Earth orbit through NASAs Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development program. The initiative has commissioned private companies to come up with their own flashy corporate solutions to in-space stays.Those stations could house astronauts from the U.S. as well as other countries. Furthermore, both NASA and the space station makers themselves are banking on the demand of other customersprivate researchers, tourists and companies such as pharmaceutical firmsto stimulate a space economy thats sustainable with or without NASA money.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.The program follows a model similar to the one that NASA has employed to develop astronaut-ferrying spacecraft after the space shuttles retired: the agency has been contracting with private companies such as SpaceX to shuttle cargo and astronauts to the ISS rather than owning and operating its own space vehicles.So far, NASA has partnered with companies on three projects to design space stations as part of the programs first phase. A second phase is on the way, and at least one competitor is nipping at these companies tail fins.An illustration of the planned Axiom Space Station.Image courtesy of Axiom SpaceAxiom StationA company called Axiom Space has been awarded more than $100 million from NASA to develop its station. And NASA isnt Axioms only partner: the company has paired up with a motley crew, from beleaguered aerospace mainstay Boeing to satellite industry giant Maxar to Build-A-Bearthe stuffed animal company. Since 2022 Axiom has been sending missions of private astronauts on SpaceX capsules to the ISS. Over its three trips so far, its travelers have completed 105 research activities in life sciences, materials science and advanced manufacturing. A fourth mission is in the works.The company has also sent Build-A-Bears in Axiom spacesuits along with the private astronauts. Unsurprisingly, you can buy a replica of those gravity-defying bears at Axioms website.Welding and machining of the space stations first module is in progress, and Axiom plans to launch its Payload Power Thermal Module (the stations version of a utility closet) to the ISS in 2027. After its been berthed there for a while, the module will detach and go solo into space, where it will eventually be joined by two habitable modules: an airlock and a research and manufacturing facility. Voil: a space station, likely with human and inanimate ursine residents.But the interior decor is the big buzz around this station. Axiom didnt leave its aesthetics to engineers: it contracted with French architect and designer Philippe Starck, who has designed everything from a Russian oligarchs superyacht to Fossil watches to the insides of New York Citys Paramount Hotel. With his creative touch, Axiom Station will have tufted, organic-looking walls embedded with color-switching LEDs.Starck has said he envisions the environment like an egg, with materials and a color scheme meant to evoke the universes fetushoodwhich, of course, invokes the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey but hopefully not the travails of its protagonist. The shifting LEDs are also meant to blur the view of the outside universe with the stations interior. Or, as Starcks website puts it, just as all the shades of lights and colors of day and night, the egg will also live to the mood and biorhythm of its osmotic inhabitant.Fetal boarders will also have Wi-Fi, video and what Axiom has called the largest window observatory ever constructed for the space environment. Axioms press materials suggest the company is going after the luxury market; another of its projects, for instance, was a spacesuit collaboration with Prada.A mockup of the Axiom AxEMU Spacesuit designed by Prada. The single AxEMU architecture is evolvable, scalable and adaptable for missions on the lunar surface and in low-Earth orbit (LEO).Image courtesy of Prada / Axiom SpaceOrbital ReefOrbital Reef, the name of a planned home meant to bob safely in the ocean of space, is another of NASAs phase one selections. The project, which as of 2024 had won $172 million from NASA, is perhaps the most explosive of the future space stations. Last year and in late 2023 NASA blew up prototypes of the Reefs habitable modulecalled LIFE, for Large Integrated Flexible Environmentin what it called a burst test.LIFE wont have a stiff shell like other stations: it will inflate in orbit to three stories tall and 27 feet in diameter, and it will accommodate sleeping spaces for four astronauts, their science experiments and their exercise equipment, among other amenities. But NASA needed to find out how much pressure the habitat could handle before blowing, so it pumped it up until it burst apart in a spectacular show that resulted in a net of detritus that resembled a sea creature. LIFE reached 74 pounds per square inch in its test last year before it broke downthats more than twice the pressure in a car tire.The Reef is a partnership between Sierra Space and Blue Origin, Jeff Bezoss cosmic company. Given the multipurpose nature of Amazon, Bezoss most famous creation, maybe its no surprise that Blue Origin describes the Reef as a mixed-use business park 250 miles above Earth.Amenities will include a medical center, robotics to help with future experiments, separate quarters for work and play and Sierra Spaces trademarked Astro Garden system, which looks like a hipster coffee shops vertical wall garden and could provide astronauts roughage (and the taste of home) on their journey.Orbital Reef, if all goes as planned, could start operating by the end of the decade, focusing on science, research and tourism, in addition to accommodating governmental guests. With interior details handled by architecture firm Hassellwhich has designed airport terminals, train stations, office buildings and zoos (mixed-use indeed!)the stations central feature is a social hub where astronauts can gather. At its core is a table made for sitting in microgravity. The table appears to have a circular base on which astronauts can hook their feet to stay grounded.An illustration of the planned Starlab Space Station.StarlabStarlabStarlab Space is a joint venture between aerospace giant Airbus and a company called Voyager Space. Importantly, Voyager is majority shareholder in the organization Nanoracks, which helps scientists payloads make it to space and whose airlock, attached to the ISS, has deployed small satellites out of that station and into orbit. Now, as Starlab Space, these heavies, along with partners such as Mitsubishiand MDA Space, which built the ISSs robotic armplan to build their own space station, called Starlab. The team, which announced a European subsidiary in January, is gunning for a 2028 launch and already boasts a NASA allocation of more than $200 million. In February, the Texas Space Commission also awarded the company $15 million. And it has a former NASA astronaut, Tim Kopra, at the helm.The ISS was probably the most incredible vehicle ever built, Kopra says. But rather than simply replacing that iconic station, he hopes to take lessons from that project and apply them to Starlab. One of those, he says, is the importance of international partnershiphence the multicompany cooperation. Beyond the core collaborators, the team also includes partners such as Palantir, which is creating a digital twin of the Starlab stationa software duplicate of the real deal, which allows engineers to model, monitor and predict onboard goings-onand will use artificial intelligence to enhance operations (and hopefully not go rogue like HAL 9000).Starlab will launch as a complete setup rather than doing so piecemeal, as was the case for the ISS. The ISS strategy, while necessary, was long and complicated, Kopra says. And it resulted in a kind of split architecture. The way [the ISS was] built [was] with a bunch of very small cans, Kopra saysakin to having a house with many small rooms. That meant that the things astronauts needed could be scattered across the space, requiring them to surf microgravity from room to room to perform a task. Thats not so for Starlab: By having a large station like this, you can organize the equipment and inventory management in such a way that you minimize this extra time, he says.Today Starlab Space has a partial mockup of the station and plans to install a full-size one this coming summer at NASAs Johnson Space Center in Houston. We consider [NASA], and NASA considers themselves, as an anchor customer, Kopra says, and we want to be close to where the expertise is.For now, the company is focused on pursuing customers from among the official ranks of astronauts from places like the U.S., Europe, Japan and Canada. Company leaders believe only a few tourists might be interested. We dont think thats a very large market, but we certainly have the capacity to support it, Kopra says. More likely customers are nongovernmental spacefarers who are scientists, whether from academia or industrysuch as an investigator from a drug company that wants to develop new pharmaceuticals or someone who wants to experiment with semiconductors and maybe eventually do the manufacturing many miles above sea level.To help make sure everyone, regardless of their cosmic goals, gets a good nights rest, Voyager Space has partnered with hotel bigwig Hilton, which, as the thinking goes, knows about extended stays. Hilton is sharing insights into designing comfortable and functional sleep environments; creating communal spaces to foster connection and socialization, elevating wellness-focused design to go beyond what has been delivered on the International Space Station; and supporting aesthetic design, wayfinding and human ergonomics for crew quarters and shared areas, according to spokesperson Caroline Logan. She did not specify whether continental breakfast was provided.HavenAerospace firm Vast isnt currently part of the LEO Destinations program, but it does have existing agreements with the agency and is vying for a spot in the second phase of the private space station program. And the company may actually be the first to launch a station to space: it plans to send a prototype called Haven-1 to orbit in 2026.The company, along with SpaceX, recently reached out to scientific researchers seeking proposals for experiments about long-term human spaceflight.Vasts initial habitat will have a volume of 45 cubic meters, about the size of an average kitchen in the U.S., and will resemble an Ikea studio put together without colorful options. This stylistic choice makes sense, given the designer Vast had in its Rolodex: Peter Russell-Clarke, whose creative touch informed the designs of iPhones, iPads, Macs and Apple Watches.Havens central feature will be a communal table that pops up and down, deploying on demand, like furniture in a space-saving recreational vehicle. A domed window that will be located right above, like a dining room skylight, will give astronauts that coveted view of space. Behind the table, where you might normally find a bookcase or framed photographs, Haven-1 will have a little laboratory. There, experimental payloads live in the wall, where they will look like cubed organizational bins. Additionally, astronauts will be able to stay connected using Starlink Internet.But its Haven-1s successor, Haven-2, that the company imagines will succeed the International Space Station, as Vasts website puts it. The company, which is aiming to launch Haven-2 in 2028, designed it with 55 cubic meters of spacemore like a master bedroom. But this module will be joined by others that will link together like Lincoln Logs. Vast plans to launch a new Haven every six months and to end up with a cross-shaped set of nine by 2032. At that point, experimental payloads will be located inside and outside, space vehicles will be able to visit, and astronauts will perform extravehicular activities. Those astronauts might include private types or official envoys from different countries. The Czech Republic and Vast have already signed a memorandum of understanding, a fuzzy document that nonetheless paves the path for putting Czech astronaut Ale Svoboda closer to that communal table.Future astronauts of all sorts dont yet know howor ifany of these commercial habitats will shake out, what life will be like inside them, what mix of interests their inhabitants will have or if that mix will in fact prove sustainable. Given that the vehicles would be the first privately created and operated space stations, everything about thembesides which spiffy designers have had hands in their interiorsis unknown. First, designs, prototypes and flashy press release illustrations must be transformed into actual objects. Then those objects have to actually get to space. How much that will cost, how long that will take and whether there will be enough paying customers for any, let alone all, of them remain open questionsas does whether their bubble may someday burst like an overstressed LIFE habitat.