A commercial space station startup now has a foothold in space

"The integration tasks still include installing Haven-1's environmental control and life support elements, power, data, and thermal control systems, thrusters, fuel tanks, and internal crew accommodations. While that work continues on Earth, Vast's demo mission will validate some of the company's designs in space. Flying at an altitude of 300 miles (500 kilometers), Haven Demo will test Vast's computer, power, software, guidance and control, propulsion, and radio systems."

"Meanwhile, Vast will ship Haven-1 from its California headquarters to NASA's Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Ohio for a rigorous environmental test campaign. The Haven-1 module, roughly 33 feet (10.1 meters) long and 14 feet (4.4 meters) wide, will undergo acoustics, vibration, and electromagnetic interference testing. Engineers will also place the habitat into a test chamber to check its performance in the extreme temperatures and airless vacuum environment of low-Earth orbit."

"Once in orbit, Haven-1 will host a series of crew visits flying on SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft, each staying for two weeks before returning to Earth. Haven-1 has a habitable volume of about 1,600 cubic feet (45 cubic meters), somewhat smaller than one of the primary modules on the International Space Station, but five times more than SpaceX's Dragon capsule. Vast's longer-term roadmap includes a larger multi-module space station called Haven-2 to support larger crews and longer expeditions in the 2030s."

Integration tasks include installing Haven-1's environmental control and life support elements, power, data, thermal control systems, thrusters, fuel tanks, and internal crew accommodations. A demo mission at 300 miles (500 kilometers) will test computer, power, software, guidance and control, propulsion, and radio systems and will exercise ground stations and mission control. Haven-1 will undergo an environmental test campaign at NASA's Neil Armstrong Test Facility, including acoustics, vibration, electromagnetic interference testing, and vacuum and thermal chamber trials. The module will then ship to Cape Canaveral for final launch preparations, with launch no earlier than May 2026. Once in orbit, crewed Dragon visits will last two weeks. Haven-1 offers about 1,600 cubic feet of habitable volume, and a larger multi-module Haven-2 is planned for the 2030s.

Read at Ars Technica