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Planetary Radio • Jul 03, 2026

Space Policy Edition: What's going on with commercial space stations?

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On This Episode

Clayton Swope

Clayton Swope

Deputy Director of the Aerospace Security Project and Senior Fellow for The Center for Strategic and International Studies

Casey dreier tps mars

Casey Dreier

Chief of Space Policy for The Planetary Society

NASA's plan for what comes after the International Space Station (ISS) has been anything but stable. Since 2019, the agency's commercial space station strategy has shifted from free-flying vendor-operated stations to a government-owned module attached to the ISS, and back again, all while the clock ticks toward the ISS's expected retirement around 2030. 

Clayton Swope, deputy director of the Aerospace Security Project and senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, joins Planetary Society Chief of Space Policy Casey Dreier to unpack this saga and weigh whether NASA can realistically select and fund a commercial successor to the ISS in time.

International Space Station with Space Shuttle Endeavour
International Space Station with Space Shuttle Endeavour The International Space Station and Space Shuttle Endeavour, as photographed from a departing Soyuz crew in 2011.Image: NASA / Paolo Nespoli
Axiom Station
Axiom Station This rendering shows the completed Axiom Station, including the Payload Power Thermal Module, two habitat modules, an airlock, and a dedicated Research and Manufacturing Facility. NASA selected Axiom Space in 2020 to attach a commercial module to the ISS, with the long-term goal of eventually detaching to operate as an independent, free-flying station.Image: Axiom Space
Orbital Reef
Orbital Reef Blue Origin's Orbital Reef is designed to go straight into low-Earth orbit as a free-flying station, rather than starting out attached to the ISS. The concept is still under development through a Space Act Agreement between Blue Origin and NASA.Image: Blue Origin
Starlab
Starlab This rendering depicts Starlab's design, which pairs a large combined habitation and laboratory module with a smaller module dedicated to power and propulsion. NASA originally signed separate 2021 Space Act Agreements with Starlab and Northrop Grumman, but Northrop Grumman later withdrew from its own agreement and joined Starlab Space's effort instead.Image: Starlab Space
Cygnus spacecraft captured by Canadarm2
Cygnus spacecraft captured by Canadarm2 Northrop Grumman's Cygnus spacecraft appears here in the grip of the Canadarm2 robotic arm just after arriving at the ISS, capping a two-and-a-half-day journey that began with a launch from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.Image: NASA
Sierra Space LIFE habitat
Sierra Space LIFE habitat This rendering shows Sierra Space's Large Integrated Flexible Environment (LIFE) habitat, an expandable space station technology that also doubles as one of the core components planned for Blue Origin's Orbital Reef.Image: NASA

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