CategorySpace
Overview
Privately held American aerospace company developing next-generation commercial space stations, including Haven-1 and Haven-2. Founded by Jed McCaleb (Ripple co-founder) and led by CEO Max Haot, Vast is the only commercial space station company to have flown and operated its own spacecraft in orbit — the Haven Demo testbed launched November 2025 and was successfully deorbited February 2026.
Reality check
Product (company-claimed)
Haven-1 commercial space station; Haven Demo pathfinder launched.
Funding (company-claimed, Mar 2026)
$500M Series A and debt at $6.8B post-money; $1B+ invested in total.
Verified record
- Verified deployments
- 2 deployments on file
- Active incidents
- 2 incidents on file
Valuation of record
DEPLOY VERIFIEDPriced roundSeries A post-money
Key facts
Leadership (reported, unconfirmed)
SpaceX (reported, unconfirmed)
NASA (reported, unconfirmed)
Launcher (reported, unconfirmed)
Staff (reported, unconfirmed)
Data & sources
Web sources
1
1 source backing this record.View all →
Models (3)
View all models →Current platform
Haven Demo
500 kg in-orbit testbed satellite launched November 2, 2025 on SpaceX's Bandwagon-4 rideshare mission to prove out key technologies for Haven-1, including communications, power, propulsion, and guidance navigation. Haven Demo operated successfully for three months and completed a controlled deorbit burn on February 5, 2026, making Vast the only commercial space station company to have flown and operated its own spacecraft.
Current platform
Haven-2
Planned multi-module commercial space station designed as a successor to the International Space Station (ISS). Haven-2 will begin with a single module launched on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy in 2028, expanding to multiple modules by 2032. Vast is competing for NASA's Commercial LEO Destinations (CLD) Phase 2 program to build the ISS replacement.
Current platform
Haven-1
Planned single-module commercial space station in low Earth orbit, designed to be the world's first commercial space station when it launches in 2027 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9. Haven-1 will support crewed missions of up to 30 days with four-person crews delivered via SpaceX Crew Dragon, featuring a microgravity research lab (Haven-1 Lab) with 10 payload slots, onboard Wi-Fi, and a large window dome for Earth observation.
Partnerships
Every company Vast Space has built with, alongside the ones only announced in a press release.
Most-frequent partners
- 1SpaceX1× joint7 total
Most recent
- Vast Space x SpaceX2023-05-10with SpaceXjust announced
Vast Space on the deployment map
View the global map2 verified deployments across 2 regions, newest verified Feb 2026. Explore where Vast Space's robots are operating, by place and type.
View the full Vast Space deployment record →
Relationships
Current leadership (3)
- Jed McCaleb Founder & Chairmansecondary-verified
- Max Haot CEO & Directorsecondary-verified
- Alex Hudson CTOsecondary-verified
Founders (1)
Safety record
2 incidents on record (2 moderate). Most recent: Mar 2024.
Most recent: Mar 2024
Only active incidents are counted. Retracted incidents are excluded from this summary but remain reachable at their canonical URLs.
Full safety record: incidents, sourcing, and exposure data →
Incidents affecting Vast Space (2)
- Former Vast engineer sues company alleging FCC radio frequency violations and wrongful termination2024-03-26 · Regulatory action
- Vast Orbiter SN3 spacecraft spins out of control after SpaceX Transporter-8 deployment2023-06-21 · Malfunction
Includes incidents linked directly to this company, to its models, or to deployments of its models or under its operation. Retracted incidents are excluded from this view but remain reachable at their canonical URLs.
Operator customers (1)
- Vast Space2 deployments
Recent coverage
Vast Space in third-party press
Peer companies
- Impulse Space6 models
- AstroForge3 models
- Astrobotic Technology3 models
- Blackswan Space3 models
- China National Space Administration3 models
- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory3 models
Mentioned on (4)
Registry pages whose text names Vast Space.
Companies (1)
People (3)
Financial state
- Total funding
- $300.0M
- Employees
- 1,000
Each numeric field carries its own basis marker. Aggregators report a number; this surface preserves the source class so verification depth travels with the value.
Partnerships
1 total · 1 just announced
Every company Vast Space has built with, alongside the ones only announced in a press release.
Most recent
- Vast Space x SpaceX2023-05-10with SpaceXjust announced
Most-frequent partners
- 1SpaceX1× joint7 total
Funding rounds (1)
- Series A2026-03-05
$300M(reported) · $6.8B post
Investors: Balerion Space Ventures (lead), Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), Mitsui & Co., MUFG, Nikon Corporation, Stellar Ventures, Space Capital, Earthrise Ventures, Jed McCaleb, In-Q-Tel
Timeline
Every recorded move in Vast Space’s history, most recent first: funding rounds, partnerships, acquisitions, supply-chain starts, key hires, and press.
- 2026-08-21
Vast Space fired 46 employees (4% of workforce) as part of a mid-year review cycle, calling the cuts performance-related. The company raised $500M earlier in 2026 and still has 277 open roles. Founded by Jed McCaleb in 2021, Vast plans to launch Haven-1 in 2027 on SpaceX and Haven-2 (ISS replacement) by 2028.
Funding roundSeries A funding round
2026-03-05Series A raising $300000000
Recent activity
Every change to this record is dated, sourced, and independently verified where marked.
- Record createdAug 7, 2026
Added to the verified registry
- Deployment verifiedVerifiedFeb 12, 2026
Haven-1 at International Space Station
- Deployment verifiedVerifiedNov 2, 2025
Haven Demo at Low Earth Orbit
- Incident recordedMar 26, 2024
Former Vast engineer sues company alleging FCC radio frequency violations and wrongful...
- Incident recordedJun 21, 2023
Vast Orbiter SN3 spacecraft spins out of control after SpaceX Transporter-8 deployment
Sources (1)
Common questions
What is Vast Space?
What does Vast Space make?
Is Vast Space publicly traded?
Who competes with Vast Space?
Who is the CEO of Vast Space?
How can I invest in Vast Space?
Where is Vast Space headquartered?
How much funding has Vast Space raised?
Who owns Vast Space?
Where does Vast Space operate robots?
How many robots has Vast Space deployed?
Is Vast Space a top robotics company?
When was Vast Space founded?
Are there any incidents involving Vast Space?
Is Vast Space safe?
Methodology: Verified · 1 source (no primary) · last reviewed 2026-10-12
Verification posture
Verified
Low confidence
Review state
Stable
Last reviewed 2026-10-12
Sources by quality tier
- 1
- unclassified
- Unclassified source
The framework is documented at /methodology. Corrections at /corrections. Reviewer: DEPLOY editorial team.
Methodology surface for Vast Space.Peer companies
- Impulse Space6 models
- AstroForge3 models
- Astrobotic Technology3 models
- Blackswan Space3 models
- China National Space Administration3 models
- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory3 models
In the press
Recent coverage mentioning Vast Space from third-party publications. Automatically surfaced; not part of the verified registry record.
Space station startup Vast cuts 4% of employees, saying they did not meet expectations in review cycle
Vast Space fired 46 employees (4% of workforce) as part of a mid-year review cycle, calling the cuts performance-related. The company raised $500M earlier in 2026 and still has…
France Signs Historic Two-Mission Agreement with Vast to the ISS and Haven-1
At the Choose France Summit, Vast announced its European HQ in Paris and an agreement with France for two missions involving ESA astronauts Thomas Pesquet and Arnaud Prost.
Vast Secures $500M in Funding to Accelerate Production of Haven Space Stations
Vast raised $500 million in new funding ($300M equity, $200M debt) led by Balerion Space Ventures with participation from IQT, QIA, Mitsui, MUFG, Nikon, and others.
Vast raises $500 million for commercial space station development
Commercial space station developer Vast has raised $500 million in its first significant outside investment round, consisting of $300 million in Series A equity and $200 million…
NASA Selects Vast for Sixth Private Mission to Space Station
NASA and Vast have signed an order for the sixth private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, targeted to launch no earlier than summer 2027.
Vast wins ISS private astronaut mission
NASA has selected Vast to fly a private astronaut mission to the International Space Station in 2027, the first such award to a company other than Axiom Space.
Private Space-Station Maker Sued Over Claims Radio Bands Misused
A former Vast engineer sued the company alleging he was wrongfully terminated for whistleblowing about Haven-1 radio frequency compliance with FCC regulations.
Machine-readable surfaces
- Markdown mirror: /companies/vast-space.md
- RSS feed: /companies/vast-space/feed.xml
- JSON-LD: embedded in this page’s head
- REST API: /v1/companies/fee1fd01-50e9-4606-a0a7-d9597ded15c5
- Revision history: /companies/vast-space/history
- Data documentation: /data
- Query this programmatically: Deploy MCP
Peer companies
- Impulse Space6 models
- AstroForge3 models
- Astrobotic Technology3 models
- Blackswan Space3 models
- China National Space Administration3 models
- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory3 models
Video
Today at IAC 2024, Vast introduced Haven-2, our proposed successor to the International Space Station (ISS). The first module will be fully operational by 2028, ensuring an overlap of operational space stations before th
🔗 NSF Store: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/shop/ ⚡ Become a member of NASASpaceflight's channel for exclusive discord access, fast turnaround clips, and oth
Haven Demo has successfully completed its initial perigee-lowering maneuver to demonstrate the spacecraft's ability to perform a controlled deorbit. The spacec
Starlab is shaping up to be the commercial powerhouse that replaces the International Space Station after its de-orbit around 2030. In this 2026 update we dive
That’s a wrap on 2025: the year Vast became the only operational commercial space station company to fly and operate its own spacecraft in orbit with Haven Demo
How would you spend your time aboard a space station? Share your thoughts in the comments. Space startup Vast has unveiled the final design for its planned co
Ready for the next leap in space living? Discover how VAST is racing to build the first commercial space station before the ISS retires! From wild moon ideas to
Vast, a space habitation technology company, is proposing Haven-2, a new space station designed to replace the International Space Station (ISS) after its plann
VAST Space is set to launch Haven-I, the world's first commercial space station, along with its initial crew, VAST-I. This mission represents VAST's first step
Vast Launches AI-Ready Satellite Platform, Expanding Beyond Space Stations Vast is moving beyond commercial space stations with the launch of Vast Satellite, a
Heat Index
Category contender77/100
A composite of competitive footprint, funding, press velocity, active partnerships, and supply-chain edges. Different from the Intelligence score below (which is per-form-factor productization). Non-robotics companies cap at 25.
Reality vs attention
Vast Space draws attention at the 54th percentile but verifies reality at the 77th percentile among space robots. Hype Gap -22.7, 31st widest among space robots.
6-month trend
Analysis
Safety profile within acceptable range for category. Well-capitalized with $300M raised and recent funding activity. Deployment footprint remains limited relative to category peers.
Signal flags
Dimension breakdown
Verified signal
Attention (reach, not merit)
DEPLOY Intelligence scores are computed from verified registry data: confirmed deployments, disclosed funding rounds, regulatory filings, active job listings, video viewership, and press coverage. Confidence ratings reflect data availability. Scores update nightly.
DEPLOY Indices — verified vs claimed
Last computed: Nov 5, 2026