The Age of the Private Space Station is Dawning

, a mini-space station orbiting the moon that would serve as a way station for astronauts descending to or returning from the lunar surface. Northrop Grumman has been selected to build the core module of the Gateway—known as Halo—and construction is already underway. “Hardware is already being cut, the structure is being fabricated at this point,” says Rick Mastracchio, Northrop’s director of business development.

Nanoracks is not nearly so far along—but what it lacks in actual hardware, it makes up in simplicity. The company has dubbed its station Starlab and its central laboratory module the George Washington Carver Science Park, and envisions the entire structure as 340 cubic meters in volume . That’s decidedly smaller than what Blue Origin is planning, but it’s faster out of the gate, because Nanoracks wants its station to be habitable after just a single launch of a single module.

All of the other companies’ plans notwithstanding, it is still Axiom Space, with its firm deal to send four modules to the ISS from 2024 to 2027, that is likely the horse to bet on. Not only is the company sending hardware aloft, it has also arranged tourist flights to the station—leasing out the SpaceX Crew Dragon to take passengers aloft for eight-day stays. The first crew is set to fly as early as April 6.

NASA of course, is not the only potential customer. There are plenty of deep-pocketed adventurers who will keep at least a marginal space tourism industry viable, and all of the companies are open to flying astronauts from other, friendly countries’ space programs, as well as crew members from private industry conducting potential for-profit research in orbit.

jeffreykluger I dare to remind you that three GRU militants arrived there and are there. Arrived from Russia on a recent flight.

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