Vast (also styled Vast Space) is a privately held American aerospace company headquartered in Long Beach, California. It was founded in 2021 by entrepreneur Jed McCaleb with the goal of developing artificial gravity space stations to "expand humanity beyond the solar system".
History
Founding
Founded in 2021, Vast "officially" launched in September 2022 with the mission to develop the world's first artificial-gravity space stations. Vast later announced in January 2023 that it planned to relocate its corporate headquarters from El Segundo, California to a newly built 115,000 square-foot facility in Long Beach. The new facility, located in the city's Globemaster Corridor Specific Plan, also planned to house the company's manufacturing operations. Shortly thereafter, in February 2023, Vast announced its acquisition of Hawthorne-based space startup Launcher, with founder & CEO Max Haot becoming president of Vast. As a result of the acquisition, Vast gained its assets, products, and employees. Its 2023 acquisition of Launcher tripled its workforce. Additionally, former Launcher operations such as the development of its E-2 engine and Orbiter payload host would be undertaken by Vast, with plans to start deploying them in the summer of 2023. In May 2023, Vast announced that it had teamed up with SpaceX to launch its first single-module space station called Haven-1 aboard a Falcon 9 rocket no earlier than August 2025. Plans were also unveiled for a crewed flight up to Haven-1, called Vast-1, to be launched shortly after placing the station in orbit. As of 2023, Vast had aspirations to sell 4 seats aboard the spacecraft, after which the crew would receive training by SpaceX in preparation for the mission.
Personnel changes, Haven-1 development
In June 2023, Vast commenced its SN3 mission by launching its Orbiter aboard SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket on their Transporter-8 mission. The Orbiter was attached to Starfish Space's Otter Pup and would go on to separate from it in the following months. However, on June 21, Haot stated that the Orbiter was "improperly" spinning at 60 rpm. As a result, they elected to immediately deploy all the small sat payloads on board and then stated that Otter Pup's primary mission could not be accomplished. The failure of the SN3 caused the delay of the Orbiter SN5 mission from fall 2023 to February 2024. Shortly after the commencement of the SN3 mission, Vast received a Collaborations for Commercial Space Capabilities-2 agreement from NASA to help develop artificial gravity stations. Although the agreement did not provide Vast with government funds, it provided technical expertise, assessments, data, and more. Shortly thereafter, Vast announced that it had selected Impulse Space to develop Haven-1's propulsion system. On July 11, 2023, Vast announced that it had hired former NASA astronaut Garrett Reisman to advise the company on its commercial space station efforts. A few weeks later, Vast announced that Jeb McCaleb would step down from his role as Chief Executive Officer (CEO), and that Max Haot would succeed him as CEO. Vast also announced that it had hired Alex Hudson to be its first Chief Technical Officer (CTO). In December, Vast hired Andrew J. Feustel, another former NASA astronaut, as its second human spaceflight adviser. In mid-February 2024, Vast announced that it was partnering with El Segundo-based company AnySignal, Irvine-based company TRL11, and Singaporean company Addvalue to provide radio frequency and Inter-satellite Data Relay System (IDRS) connectivity, as well as advanced onboard video solutions for use in Haven-1. They announced a few days later that were seeking to bid for future International Space Station (ISS) private astronaut missions, providing competition to Axiom Space, who dominates in that aspect. In early April 2024, a contract to use SpaceX's Starlink laser links as part of Haven-1's mission communications system was signed as the company announced it would commence the initial space capable module construction. This came following the completion of a successful pathfinder build. Plans for Haven-2, Haven-1's successor, were released to the public in October and branded as a multi-module station based on upgraded Haven-1 modules. Planned to first launch in 2028 and complete in 2032, Vast indicated that they would enter the station into NASA's Commercial LEO Destinations program in the hopes of securing a contract.
Recent The goal of Haven-2 was to allow astronauts to remain in space after the 2030 decommissioning of the ISS. In May 2025, Haot disclosed that Vast was considering outsourcing Haven-1 crew and cargo ferrying to Indian launchers and capsules. In April 2025, Vast signed an agreement to collaborate with the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS). It was also continuing to develop its Haven-1 station to compete in the NASA competition Commercial Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Destinations (CLD) program, which is scheduled to pick one or two replacements for the ISS in July 2026. After undergoing pressure testing in summer 2025, Haven-1 was undergoing assembly as of January 2026. On January 10, Vast completed the primary structure. On March 5, 2026, Vast announced US$500 million of new investment, consisting of $300 million of equity and $200 million of debt. Investors included Balerion Space Ventures, IQT, Qatar Investment Authority, Mitsui & Co., MUFG, Nikon Corporation, Stellar Ventures, Space Capital, Earthrise Ventures, and Jed McCaleb, Vast's founder. In April 2026, Vast announced a strategic partnership, focused on biomedical research in space and crew health, with the Center for Space Medicine Research at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
Spaceflights
ISS mission
On February 12, 2026, it was announced that Vast won the sixth commercial contract to take astronauts to the ISS, with the five prior contracts all having been awarded to Axiom Space. Like the prior Axiom missions, the Vast mission will use a SpaceX Dragon 2 to take passengers to the ISS for 14 days and is tentatively slated for launch in late 2027. ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet has been selected as commander of this mission.
Hardware
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