{"id":577647,"date":"2026-08-23T08:10:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T08:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/577647\/"},"modified":"2026-08-23T08:10:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T08:10:11","slug":"this-could-be-the-earth-orbiting-habitat-that-replaces-the-international-space-station","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/577647\/","title":{"rendered":"This could be the Earth-orbiting habitat that replaces the International Space Station"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>France has signed a two-mission agreement with US space company Vast to send French astronauts to both the International Space Station (ISS) and Haven-1, a privately developed space station scheduled to launch in 2027.<\/p>\n<p>The agreement, announced during the Choose France Summit in Paris, endorses Haven-1, which Vast hopes will become the world\u2019s first commercial space station.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Under the agreement, ESA astronaut <a href=\"https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/space-missions\/earth-in-our-hands-astronaut-thomas-pesquet\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Thomas Pesquet<\/a> is expected to fly on Vast\u2019s sixth private astronaut mission to the ISS, while ESA reserve astronaut Arnaud Prost is intended to serve as a flight test engineer on the first crewed mission to Haven-1.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"1303\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/sagittarius-a-black-hole-chimney-vent.jpg\" alt=\"Image of the region near the centre of the Milky Way galaxy showing the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A*, a chimney and a vent funnelling cosmic material outwards. Captured by the Chandra X-Ray Observatory and the MeerKAT telescope. Credit: X-ray: NASA\/CXC\/Univ. of Chicago\/S.C. Mackey et al.; Radio: NRF\/SARAO\/MeerKAT; Image Processing: NASA\/CXC\/SAO\/N. Wolk\" class=\"wp-image-155326\"\/>Credit: X-ray: NASA\/CXC\/Univ. of Chicago\/S.C. Mackey et al.; Radio: NRF\/SARAO\/MeerKAT; Image Processing: NASA\/CXC\/SAO\/N. Wolk<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/haven-1.jpg\" alt=\"Artist's impression of the NASA-supported commercial space station, Vast\u2019s Haven-1. Credit: Vast\" class=\"wp-image-192082\"\/>Artist&#8217;s impression of the  NASA-supported commercial space station, Vast\u2019s Haven-1. Credit: Vast<\/p>\n<p>Both flights are planned for 2027 and are expected to last around two weeks.<\/p>\n<p>Transportation will be provided by SpaceX using a Dragon spacecraft launched on a Falcon 9 rocket.<\/p>\n<p>The announcement is a significant milestone in the transition from publicly funded orbital laboratories to privately owned ones as governments prepare for the eventual retirement of the International Space Station at the end of the decade.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/astronaut-thomas-pesquet-cupola-space-station.jpg\" alt=\"ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet pictured at the Cupola on the International Space Station. Credit: ESA\" class=\"wp-image-142705\"\/>ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet pictured at the Cupola on the International Space Station. Credit: ESA<\/p>\n<p>Haven-1 is designed to support research, technology demonstrations and private astronaut missions, and serve as a precursor to Vast\u2019s larger station ambitions \u2013 including a rotating station that would generate gravity for the people on board.<\/p>\n<p>Vast\u2019s chief executive Max Haot says: &#8220;This agreement reinforces Vast\u2019s commitment to launch and operate the world\u2019s first commercial space station.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We are honoured that France selected Vast for these historic missions.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"France has signed a two-mission agreement with US space company Vast to send French astronauts to both the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":577648,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[111,139,69,147],"class_list":["post-577647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=577647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577647\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/577648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=577647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=577647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=577647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}