NASA releases details on revised next phase of commercial space station development

WASHINGTON — NASA expects to spend up to $1.5 billion to support at least two companies to demonstrate crew-tended space stations as part of the agency’s revised approach to transition from the International Space Station.

NASA released Sept. 5 a draft version of an announcement for partnership proposal, or AFPP, for the second phase of its Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development Program. NASA is seeking comments on the draft through Sept. 12.

The draft reflects a new approach for supporting development of commercial space stations outlined in a July 31 policy directive by Acting Administrator Sean Duffy. Rather than award fixed-price contracts to cover certification of commercial space stations for use by NASA astronauts, it called for the use of funded Space Act Agreements for continued support of the design and development of such stations.

That directive, notably, pulled back from an original goal of a station that would be permanently crewed by NASA and other astronauts. Instead, the program would require stations to support four-person crews for one-month stays.

Under the draft AFPP for what NASA calls Commercial Destinations – Development and Demonstration Objectives, or C3DO, the agency says it wants to aid further development of such stations leading to a crewed demonstration mission by 2030.

“NASA’s objective of the C3DO strategy is to enable the development of multiple commercial space station destinations, advancing them to the stage of an on-orbit low Earth orbit crewed demonstration flight as soon as possible, with NASA’s target set for no later than 2030,” the document states.

The Space Act Agreements NASA would award through the C3DO effort would assist in the development of commercial stations, culminating in a four-person mission to the station lasting at least 30 days. That mission, which would likely not involve NASA astronauts, would demonstrate “primary space station functions” as well as interoperability with crew and cargo transportation systems.

The draft document does not require stations to support crews for longer than 30 days but does include as one of several “stretch goals” the ability to accommodate long-duration missions as well as future capability for end-to-end commercial space station services.

The document states that NASA anticipates providing $1 billion to $1.5 billion in funding, from fiscal years 2026 to 2031, for the C3DO agreements, with a minimum of two awarded. NASA previously said it projected having $2.1 billion available for the Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development Program overall from fiscal years 2026 through 2030, with some of that funding to be spent on existing phase one agreements with Axiom Space, Blue Origin and Starlab Space.

NASA plans to defer the certification of commercial stations and purchases of services from them to a future phase three of the program, with more details to be published by early December. That will involve the use of contracts, rather than Space Act Agreements, and be a full and open competition, allowing companies not selected for the C3DO awards to still compete for later services contracts.

“The work done under our Phase 1 contracts and agreements have put us in a prime position to be successful for this next funded Space Act Agreement phase,” Angela Hart, manager of the Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development Program at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, said in an agency statement about the release of the draft AFPP. “By leveraging these agreements, we provide additional flexibility to our commercial partners to define the best path forward to provide NASA a safe and affordable crewed demonstration.”

The policy change has caused some companies planning commercial space stations to reevaluate their plans, given an original focus on permanently crewed stations. It has also raised geopolitical concerns given that China will have a permanently crewed station, Tiangong, in orbit even as the United States falls back, if only temporarily, to crew-tended stations with gaps in a human presence in low Earth orbit.

One retired NASA official, though, supports the revised approach. Phil McAlister, former director of commercial spaceflight at NASA Headquarters, said the revised approach was “genius” in a social media post last month.

“The previous strategy was so flawed that it would not have succeeded, and it would have resulted in a significant gap in U.S. access to LEO microgravity operations,” he wrote, citing a funding shortfall for the program and schedule slips for its next phase.

That made it impossible, he said, for a commercial space station, or commercial LEO destination (CLD), to be ready by the time the ISS is deorbited. “By the time the ISS is deorbited in January 2031, there is no plausible way the U.S. would have had a certified CLD in orbit under the previous strategy,” he wrote.

The use of Space Act Agreements, rather than contracts, for the next phase is also an advantage, he said, keeping commercial designs from being “over-constrained” by NASA requirements.

He argued that the new approach will require all companies proposing commercial space stations to revise their plans. “The companies that win the Phase 2 awards will be the ones that pivot the best. And there will be more awards, meaning everyone has a better shot at getting an award.”

NASA said it expects to release a final version of the AFPP no later than Oct. 3 after receiving industry feedback, including at an industry day Sept. 8. The agency’s schedule projects a Dec. 1 deadline for proposals with the award of Space Act Agreements by April 2026.