A New Era Of Commercial Space Stations Is On The Horizon

The future of mankind in space fascinates me so it was no surprise when an article I saw yesterday caught my attention talking about a new space station that will be going up after the International Space Station is retired. 

The funding for this space station will not come from governments, but mostly from private enterprise. and at that point, NASA will become a customer. 

According to msn.com,
‘The agency is working with private companies to transition to a commercial space station. A competition will select the best designs and one or more partners for an initial demonstration that will include a 30-day, crewed mission in space. Further down the line, NASA would essentially buy “station services” from a private contractor tasked with launching a modern ISS successor.’ 

We don't have a complete list of those companies that are in this competition so far, but I would imagine that Boeing will be participating. We also know that Vast Space will be in the running and SpaceX is a natural. 

Designs for the new space station are due sometime next year, and I think it'll be interesting to see what they come up with. 

Vast Space is actually ahead of the curve because they're going to be launching their commercial space station next year in May in cooperation with SpaceX. Vast Space wants to be a space station company and is now in the finishing stages of constructing the module that will go into Orbit. 

Horizon 1, (That's the name of their space station) will mostly be used for research with commercial partners, but it's possible that they may have a few tourists up there from time to time depending on how much the tourist is willing to pay. 

Another player in commercial spaceflight is based in Huntsville, The Marshall Space Flight Center. Currently, they house the Payload Operations Integration Center for NASA.  

There is some concern with those involved in spaceflight and exploration in the United States that the Chinese Tiangong space station right now is moving on a faster timeline. 

These commercial space station operations are going to be crucial for the US and NASA to place people on the moon and eventually Mars.
The world’s first commercial space station is getting closer to launch
The next space station era starts in Huntsville