Starlab – the Private Space Station JV of Voyager Space and Airbus – to Fly on SpaceX’s Starship Rocket Later This Decade
Starlab is one of several space stations in development by U.S. companies as NASA prepares to retire the ISS in 2030.
(Denver, Colorado and Hawthorne, California) Starlab Space, the joint venture between space exploration company Voyager Space and Airbus Space, has signed a deal with SpaceX to launch its Starlab commercial space station to orbit on a SpaceX Starship rocket later this decade, the companies announced yesterday, on January 31st.
Starlab space station rendering courtesy of Starlab Space.
The Starlab space station is one of several currently in development by companies in the United States as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will retire the International Space Station (ISS) in 2030.
NASA has awarded total of $415 million to three companies so they can develop space station concepts, including Voyager/Airbus, according to UPI. Northrop Grumman, one of the companies awarded NASA funds in 2021, has since joined the Starlab team while Blue Origin, the third company to win NASA funds, continues to work on its own private lab plans. Axiom Space is working on a separate space lab agreement with NASA.
Voyager and Airbus are targeting as early as 2028 for Starlab’s launch.
Voyager Space and Airbus Space, a division of Airbus (OTCMKTS: EADSY), announced on January 9th that they had completed a joint venture to create Starlab Space LLC, which will design, build and operate the Starlab commercial space station.
