After the ISS: NASA’s plan to rent space on commercial stations

Drawn from 34 sources: NASA Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development Program (8), NASA (5), Vast (5), Congressional Research Service (5) and 9 others. About 12 minutes. Checked October 1, 2026.

NASA plans to deorbit the International Space Station by the end of 2030 and to replace it with one or more space stations that companies own and operate. The agency does not intend to own them. Selected companies are to design, build, own and operate their stations, ground control centers and support infrastructure; NASA plans to certify the stations as safe for its crews and buy services aboard them, as one of many customers. A statute enacted in 2017 calls for an uninterrupted capability for human spaceflight and operations in low Earth orbit.¹

NASA expects the arrangement to cost less than the station it replaces. It spends about $3 billion a year to maintain and operate the ISS, about 60% of it on carrying crews and cargo, and its inspector general reported in 2024 that moving from a government-owned station to privately owned ones was estimated to save the agency $1.3 billion to $1.8 billion a year.^1,32 As of October 1, 2026, no commercial station has flown, and NASA has not yet chosen the companies it will pay to finish one.²⁵

$3B

NASA’s yearly cost to maintain and operate the ISS, about 60% of it transportation¹

$273M

enacted for commercial LEO development in fiscal 2026²⁶

$1–1.5B

what NASA told companies it expects to have for station agreements or contracts, FY2026–2031¹

4 × 30

the minimum crewed demonstration: four people aboard for 30 days¹

$415.6 million for three station designs, and one module for the ISS

In January 2020 NASA selected Axiom Space of Houston to provide at least one habitable commercial module to be attached to the space station, at the forward port of the Harmony module. The firm-fixed-price contract awarded that February had a maximum potential value of $140 million over an ordering period of up to seven years. NASA called the selection a step toward independent commercial destinations that would meet the agency’s long-term needs beyond the life of the station.²

In December 2021 NASA signed funded Space Act Agreements with three companies to design free-flying stations, worth $415.6 million in total: Blue Origin, $130 million; Nanoracks, $160 million; and Northrop Grumman, $125.6 million. Space Act Agreements are not contracts: under a funded agreement NASA pays for completed milestones without the requirements that the Federal Acquisition Regulation places on government contracts.^3,1

Blue Origin and Sierra Space proposed Orbital Reef, a station they described as a “mixed-use space business park,” to start operating in the second half of the decade. Nanoracks, with Voyager Space and Lockheed Martin, proposed Starlab, a continuously crewed station for four astronauts to be launched on a single flight in 2027. Northrop Grumman’s design built on its Cygnus cargo spacecraft. NASA estimated its own future needs at continuous accommodations and training for at least two crew members and about 200 investigations a year.³

The field narrowed. In October 2023 Northrop Grumman withdrew from its agreement, after being paid $36.6 million for completed milestones, and joined the Starlab team to provide cargo logistics. NASA moved the freed money and other program funds to its remaining partners in January 2024: Blue Origin’s award rose by $42 million to $172 million and Starlab’s by $57.5 million to $217.5 million, including milestones to upgrade Cygnus from berthing to docking.^4,5 In 2023 NASA also signed unfunded agreements, which give companies technical expertise but no money, with seven companies; three of them, Sierra Space, SpaceX and Vast, were working on stations.¹

Axiom’s station would start on the ISS and then leave it

In December 2024 Axiom, in coordination with NASA, changed its assembly sequence to reduce its reliance on the ISS. Instead of a habitat, a Payload, Power and Thermal Module would launch to the station first, allowing it to depart as early as 2028 and become a free-flying Axiom Station. Habitat 1, an airlock, Habitat 2 and a Research and Manufacturing Facility would be added in free flight. NASA said the new order would also keep the ISS prepared for the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle and an end of operations no earlier than 2030.⁶

Axiom told reporters that the new first module would use a different ISS port from the one the deorbit vehicle needs, and put the cost of a four-module station at about $3 billion. At the time it expected to launch the module in early 2027.⁷ In January 2026 Axiom’s Peggy Whitson put that launch in early 2028, with the first habitat module following months later.⁸ GAO described the contract in 2026 as valued at $140 million.¹

Starlab, Orbital Reef and Vast are building stations that fly on their own

Starlab’s design is a service module and a habitat launched to orbit together on one flight; GAO describes an 8-meter-diameter metal habitat with a docking node, a power and propulsion element and an external robotic arm. By July 2025 the company had completed NASA milestones covering its preliminary design and safety review, system architecture, procurement plan and the docking system for Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus, and had begun building a full-scale, high-fidelity mockup for the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, where participants would perform day-in-the-life walkthroughs.^9,1 In February 2026 Starlab, by then a joint venture of Voyager Technologies, Airbus, Mitsubishi, MDA Space, Palantir and Space Applications Services, said it had completed its commercial critical design review with NASA in attendance, the 28th milestone of its Space Act Agreement.¹⁰

Orbital Reef includes an inflatable habitat from Sierra Space called LIFE, made of high-strength webbings and fabric that form a solid structure once pressurized. Its layers can be stowed in a payload fairing and inflated in orbit, so the habitat can launch on a single rocket. In July 2024 a full-scale LIFE habitat was pressurized until it burst at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, a test that is one of the primary structural requirements for a soft-goods structure seeking flight certification. In April 2025 Blue Origin completed a human-in-the-loop milestone in life-sized mockups of the station’s floors, assessing crew quarters, dining area, lavatory, laboratory and hatches.^11,12

None of the four companies has yet put a station in orbit, and every announced date has moved, including NASA’s own dates for choosing the companies it will pay.^{1,7,8,14,15,16,25}

Station dates as each plan moved¹

Three plans in twelve months, 2025–2026

1. December 6, 2024

   NASA approves a contract strategy¹⁹

   A full and open competition for a fixed-price contract covering certification and services, approved as high risk with a $4 billion budget shortfall.

2. August 4, 2025

   Acting Administrator Duffy’s directive¹⁹

   The next phase becomes funded Space Act Agreements leading to a crewed demonstration; four crew for one month is the minimum.

3. September 5, 2025

   Draft announcement for proposals¹

   Awards planned for April 2026, then delayed by the government shutdown and the change of administrator.

4. March 24, 2026

   “Ignition” proposes a NASA-owned core module²¹

   Attached first to the ISS, with commercial modules docked to it; industry is asked for comment.

5. June 2026

   The core module is dropped²⁵

   NASA keeps the commercial plan and takes its station procurement off hold on June 4.

6. July 6, 2026

   Draft request for proposals²⁴

   Fixed-price contracts with several companies for development, certification and services.

7. Spring 2027

   Contract awards planned²⁵

   The final request was scheduled for September 2026 and proposals for November.

In December 2024 NASA approved a plan for the program’s second phase: a full and open competition for a fixed-price contract under the Federal Acquisition Regulation that would include NASA certification and station services. It was approved as a high-risk acquisition because it needed more money than the budget provided; the plan went forward with a $4 billion shortfall.¹⁹

On August 4, 2025, Acting Administrator Sean Duffy signed a directive that changed course. The President’s budget request for fiscal 2026 had included $272.3 million for that year and $2.1 billion over five years for new commercial stations. To meet the goals of a commercial system within that budget, and to reduce the potential for a gap, NASA would continue to support industry’s design and demonstration of stations with multiple funded Space Act Agreements and move formal design acceptance and certification to a later phase.¹⁹

The agreements would run three years, with options to five; lead to critical design review readiness and then a crewed demonstration in orbit, which could fly a non-NASA crew; and hold back at least 25% of their value until a successful demonstration. NASA wanted at least two providers, preferably three or more. The final capability NASA had previously required would no longer be binding; the minimum became four crew for one-month increments.¹⁹ NASA released a draft announcement on September 5, 2025, planning a final version in October and awards in April 2026. The 2025 government shutdown and the confirmation of a new NASA administrator delayed it.^20,1

On July 6, NASA released a draft request for proposals. Based on industry’s input, the agency said, it would proceed with its original plan to buy commercial services through contracts awarded in full and open competition: firm-fixed-price, multi-award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contracts covering development, certification and services. NASA would select two or more contractors for early development, followed by a competitive task order for final design, test, evaluation, certification and services from one or more of them.²⁴ “Industry believes it can meet the timelines and that a viable commercial marketplace exists where NASA is one customer among many,” said Administrator Jared Isaacman.²⁴

NASA had, in effect, returned to the kind of contract its December 2024 strategy had chosen and the August 2025 directive had set aside.^19,24 Its procurement schedule, last revised on August 27, set the final request for proposals for September 2026, proposals for November and contract award for spring 2027.²⁵

$273 million a year, and what companies are paying

Commercial LEO development: requested and appropriated²⁶

• President’s request
• Enacted

Show the numbers

fy	President’s request	Enacted
FY2020	$150M	$15M
FY2021	$150M	$18M
FY2022	$101M	$102M
FY2023	$224M	$224M
FY2024	$228M	$228M
FY2025	$170M	$170M
FY2026	$272M	$273M
FY2027	$300M	—

Congress was slow to fund the program at first. For fiscal 2020 NASA requested $150 million for commercial LEO development and received $15 million; for fiscal 2021 it asked for $150 million again and received about $18 million.^27,26 From fiscal 2022 on, Congress provided about what was requested: $224 million in 2023, $228 million in 2024 and $170 million in 2025. For fiscal 2026 NASA asked for $272 million, the House Appropriations Committee proposed $500 million and Congress enacted $273 million.^28,29,30,26

For fiscal 2027 the administration requested $300 million. The House Appropriations Committee’s bill, approved in May 2026, provides “no less than $400 million” and, according to SpacePolicyOnline, directs NASA to ensure that at least one commercial station is available by the end of ISS operations.^26,31 Executives of Vast and Starlab said at a May 2026 Commercial Space Federation panel that $400 million could support two stations, since the money is meant to pay for NASA’s services rather than to build a station.³³

NASA’s own planning figure is smaller than the cost of a station. It told companies it expects about $1 billion to $1.5 billion over fiscal years 2026 through 2031 to fund the agreements or contracts; in March 2026 officials said that might support only one station, and the companies are to raise any additional money themselves.¹ The contract and funded agreements of 2020 and 2021 provided nearly $530 million on completion of milestones.¹ “Private investors have invested over $3 billion in companies developing stations,” the Center for Strategic and International Studies wrote in May 2026, which it reckoned as $5 of private money for every NASA dollar.²²

GAO’s warning: a possible gap in U.S. crew presence

In June 2026 GAO reported that NASA is concerned about a gap in continuous human presence in low Earth orbit but had not assessed how likely it is or how long it could last. From NASA’s own documents it identified four risks.¹

The first is the schedule. If NASA awarded agreements in 2026, GAO wrote, the companies would have about four years to have their stations certified for NASA crews, launched and in orbit. NASA projects launched since 2010 took a little over five years on average from the start of development to launch; at that pace, initial capability would come in 2031. The second is money: NASA must balance commercial stations against ISS maintenance and deorbit and the commercial crew and cargo programs.¹

The agency only has the next year and a half to determine if it needs to extend ISS operations beyond 2030. It cannot wait until 2030 to determine whether it is ready to deorbit the ISS.

NASA officials told GAO that a decision is due in 2027: whether to launch the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle in 2029 to begin the station’s descent or to extend its operations. NASA’s structural analyses give a high level of confidence that the ISS can operate through 2028; another analysis was due in 2026, and officials said the station’s life could be extended through the late 2030s or 2040 if needed. GAO recommended that NASA assess the likelihood and duration of a gap and document how it will decide whether to retire the station as planned. NASA concurred.¹

As of October 1, 2026, the official plan still ends ISS operations in 2030.¹ Haven-1, which Vast in January targeted for the first quarter of 2027, would be the first commercial station in orbit, and it is built for visiting crews rather than continuous occupation.^14,16 The proposals for the stations NASA would rent after 2030 were scheduled for November, and the awards for spring 2027, the same year NASA has to decide whether the ISS can retire on time.^25,1