NASA Alters Commercial Space Station Development Strategy

HOUSTON—NASA is altering plans to issue contracts for the development of commercial low-Earth-orbit successors to the International Space Station (ISS).

The ISS is scheduled to be safely deorbited in 2030 after three decades of continuous human presence in space.

In an industry update published Aug. 14, NASA said it has changed its Commercial Low Earth Orbit Program (CLDP) plan to issue a firm fixed price contract to proceed with commercial space station development. Instead, the agency will continue with industry design and demonstration activities funded with Space Act Agreements (SSAs).

The CLDP initiative managed by the agency’s Johnson Space Center had planned to initiate Phase 2 development with a release of a contract request for proposals (RFP) by the end of 2025. That would have been followed by contract awards in 2026 to one or more commercial space station providers, with NASA envisioned as one of multiple tenants.

According to NASA’s initial timeline, the contractors were to establish human short-duration mission capabilities by 2029, continuous crew mission capabilities by 2030 and continuous long-duration mission capabilities by 2031.

“CLDP is providing an industry update as NASA has determined that, rather than moving forward at this time with a firm fixed price contract for certification and services, NASA will continue to support U.S. industry’s design and demonstration of Commercial LEO Destinations (CLDs) with funded Space Act Agreements (SAAs) for the next phase,” an Aug. 14 notice published on the procurement website said. “NASA remains committed to enabling sustainable development of commercially owned and operated LEO destinations under the National Aeronautics and Space Act.”

The CLDP strategy got underway in January 2020 with NASA’s selection of Axiom Space to begin development of the Axiom Station by docking at least one habitable module to the forward docking port of the ISS’s U.S. segment. The agreement was valued at $140 million with an up to seven-year ordering period.

Initial elements of the Axiom Station would depart the ISS prior to a safe deorbiting of the NASA-led, 15-nation orbital lab.

In December 2021, NASA signed separate Space Act Agreements (SAAs) with Blue Origin, Northrop Grumman and Starlab, estimated at a total value of $415.6 million, to pursue the development of CLD design concepts.

“The awards are the first in a two-phase approach to ensure a seamless transition of activity from the International Space Station to commercial destinations,” NASA said. “During this first phase, private industry, in coordination with NASA, will formulate and design commercial low-Earth-orbit destination capabilities suitable for potential government and private sector needs. The first phase is expected to continue through 2025.”

Blue Origin partnered with Sierra Space to develop the Orbital Reef commercial space station concept with Boeing, Redwire Space, Genesis Engineering, and Arizona State University as teammates.

Starlab is a collaboration between Nanoracks, Voyager Space and Lockheed Martin.

In June 2023, NASA announced unfunded SSAs with Blue Origin, Northrop Grumman, Sierra Space, SpaceX, Special Aerospace Services, ThinkOrbital, and Vast under a Collaborations for Commercial Space Capabilities initiative. It was intended to advance commercial space station development efforts in which NASA provides technical expertise, assessments and relevant data.

Northrop Grumman withdrew but joined the Starlab partnership.

The White House 2026 budget request for NASA—which would cut the agency’s top line from $24.8 billion to $18.8 billion—has not yet cleared the House and Senate, although legislators have so far opposed an overall reduction. But the White House request forecasts just more than $2 billion in CLDP funding through 2030.