Life After the ISS: The Commercial Space Stations Coming Next

NASA has committed to retiring the ISS by 2030. To avoid losing US presence in low Earth orbit, NASA is funding a new generation of commercial stations through the Commercial LEO Destinations program. Four primary contenders are in development today, each with a different design philosophy and customer mix.

The four contenders

• Orbital Reef — Sierra Space, Blue Origin, Boeing, and partners. Inflatable LIFE habitat as the primary module, plus rigid hub.
• Starlab — Voyager Space (Nanoracks), Airbus, Lockheed Martin. A single large rigid module launched on Starship, ready in roughly 90 days.
• Axiom Station — Axiom Space. Modules first attached to the ISS, then detached to fly free as an independent station.
• Haven — Vast. The first commercial station, with Haven-1 launching as a single-module pathfinder before larger Haven-2 designs.

How they differ

Orbital Reef bets on inflatable habitats for vast interior volume. Starlab bets on launch-and-go simplicity — one Starship flight, station ready. Axiom takes the lowest-risk path by piggybacking on the ISS during construction. Vast moves fastest, with a target of orbital occupancy ahead of the competition.

NASA Phase 1 awards

Orbital Reef ($172M), Starlab ($160M), Axiom (separate program), Northrop Grumman ($125M, since merged into Starlab)

ISS retirement target

2030

Orbital deorbit vehicle

SpaceX-built USDV ($843M contract)

First operational commercial station

Vast Haven-1 targeted before 2030

Why the timeline is tight

Building, launching, and certifying a new space station takes years. NASA wants overlap so research and partner-nation activity can transition smoothly. If commercial stations are not ready by 2030, the United States risks a coverage gap — China's Tiangong would become the only continuously crewed station in orbit.

The deorbit problem

The ISS is too massive to safely re-enter without active control. NASA awarded SpaceX an $843M contract to build the US Deorbit Vehicle, a derived Cargo Dragon variant designed to lower the station out of orbit. ISS components will burn up, and unburned debris will splash down in a remote South Pacific area called Point Nemo.