Welcome to the Age of Commercial Space Stations

We’re soon to enter a new era of space, one dominated by enterprises building stations to orbit our planet.

The International Space Station has served us well for dor the nearly 24 years its been in service, but like anything, there’ll be a day when it will be decommissioned. This day will be in the early 2030s, and as far as I can see, there aren’t any plans for a newer version anytime soon. This will make China’s Tiangong Space Station the only space station owned and operated by a nation’s space agency orbiting in Low Earth Orbit (though NASA should have their Lunar Gateway station orbiting the moon by this point in time).

A rendering of the modules Axiom Space will add to the ISS (Credit: Axiom Space)

But none of this spells the end of space stations orbiting our planet. Instead, we’re heading towards a new age filled with space stations owned and operated by companies rather than nations. Welcome to the age of commercial space stations.

I want to talk to you today about one venture which I find the most interesting, Axiom Space because they’re vying to create the world’s first commercial space station. Founded only recently in 2016, their goal is to launch the first part of their station in late 2024, a mere 8 years after being founded! The modules for their space station will begin as an attachment to the ISS…