VAST, founded by crypto-billionaire Jed McCaleb, announced cooperation with SpaceX and the planned launch of its first space station Haven-1 in 2025.

VAST declares its goal to teach humanity to live in space and plans to create several giant 100-meter space stations with artificial gravity and a crew of up to 40 people each. The first step in the implementation of such Napoleonic plans is the launch together with SpaceX of the first small space station Haven-1.

In the VAST missions, SpaceX acts as the launch operator, which will deliver Haven-1 into orbit and then conduct manned missions to the station. VAST will use SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets, Dragon Crew vehicles, spacesuits and docking systems.

Haven-1 is a single-module station that will be able to ensure the arrival in orbit of a crew of 4 people within 30 days. The diameter of the station is 3.8 m, the length is 10.1 m, that is, it is well placed under the fairing of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle. Visually, the station resembles the Apollo ships, but instead of a propulsion engine, it has a docking module. On the other side of the station is a glass viewing dome.

Haven-1, which is being developed and manufactured by VAST itself, is scheduled to launch no earlier than August 2025. Almost immediately after that, the first manned mission of Vast-1 to the station will take place.

In the construction of the next super-large stations, VAST hopes to use the SpaceX Starship ships. According to the company’s plans, the first Starship-class module will be launched in 2028. In the 2030s, several such modules will be connected into a 100-meter station, which will rotate, creating artificial gravity. In the 2040s, VAST sees dozens of large ring-shaped stations throughout the Solar System. Almost what science fiction artists drew in the 1960s. Do we believe?

Haven-1 specifications
Diameter – 3.8 m
Length – 10.1 m
Sealed volume – 70 m3
Mass – 14,000 kg
Power of solar panels – 15,000 W
Orbit – 500 km
Crew capacity – 4 people