SVE NEWS & CNN.COM Sharing Series — SpaceX and startup Vast hope to put the world’s first private space station in orbit

It’s not clear how much the agreement, announced by Vast on Wednesday, will cost. Company leadership declined to comment on the matter to CNN. Nor is it clear how much a trip to the proposed space station would cost visitors, which could include professional astronauts or tourists.

Jed McCaleb, the founder and CEO of Vast who previously made a fortune in the cryptocurrency business, said in a statement that the company is “thrilled to embark on this journey of launching the world’s first commercial space station, Haven-1, and its first crew, Vast-1.”

McCaleb said he is investing $300 million of his own money into the effort, and he does not plan to seek outside investment for Vast until the company has its proposed space station built and can generate revenue. He added that he acknowledges the overall project will likely cost him more than $300 million.

It is not certain that Vast will indeed become the first company to put a private space station in orbit. Vast says it’s aiming for a launch date as early as August 2025. Developing a space station, however, is an exceedingly complex endeavor, requiring extensive testing and key technology such as life support systems.

McCaleb said Vast will have an advantage because it can leverage the life support systems already developed for SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, which the company plans to use to carry passengers to its space station.

Vast will equip its Haven-1 space station with the necessary consumables — such as oxygen and other life-sustaining materials — but the company won’t have to develop a life support system from scratch, McCaleb told CNN.

Other companies — including several with backing from NASA — are also working to develop private space stations. NASA, along with its global partners, is seeking to use a privately developed space station to replace the aging International Space Station, which has been continuously inhabited in low-Earth orbit since 2000.

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin wants to build a tourism space station nearly as big as the ISS

The Biden-Harris administration and officials in Canada, Japan and participating countries of the European Space Agency authorized the ISS to stay in operation through 2030. But the other key partner on the International Space Station, Russia, has said it will only guarantee participation through 2028.

It’s not clear how much of the $300 million McCaleb has allocated to the Haven-1 project will go to SpaceX for launch services. Vast did not share financial details about its agreement with the company.