Starlab To Launch In Single Flight Before ISS Shutdown Thanks To SpaceX's Starship

Starlab Space LLC, a joint venture between Voyager Space and Airbus, on Thursday said that the company has chosen SpaceX‘s Starship for the launch of its commercial space station, Starlab, into low-Earth orbit (LEO), becoming one of the early customers for a Starship launch.

What Happened: The mission is set to occur on a single flight before the International Space Station is decommissioned in 2030. In January 2023, Airbus said Starlab could launch as early as 2028.

“SpaceX's history of success and reliability led our team to select Starship to orbit Starlab,” Voyager Space CEO Dylan Taylore said. “SpaceX is the unmatched leader for high-cadence launches and we are proud Starlab will be launched to orbit in a single flight by Starship.”

Starlab, as a continuously manned, free-flying space station, aims to serve a worldwide customer base comprising space agencies, researchers, and companies. It is expected to host four crew members permanently with the ability to conduct over 400 experiments or technical investigations every year.

Senior Vice President of Commercial Business at SpaceX, Tom Ochinero, expressed his excitement about the project, stating, “The SpaceX team is excited for Starship to launch Starlab to support humanity's continued presence in low-Earth orbit on our way to making life multiplanetary.”

Why It Matters: SpaceX has attempted two flight tests of its Starship thus far. During the first flight in April,  the rocket exploded in less than four minutes after take-off.

Starship's second liftoff on Nov. 18 saw successful stage separation, but the booster experienced an explosion shortly afterward. The spacecraft lost contact with SpaceX after reaching an altitude of nearly 150 kilometers, failing to complete the test launch's goal of a round-trip flight to space with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. 

NASA is currently relying on the success of Starship to land humans on the moon in the next few years under its Artemis program. The agency now expects to land Americans back on the Moon in September 2026 with the Artemis III mission. The last time humans set foot on the Moon was in 1972 with Apollo 17. Since then, no crew has traveled beyond low-Earth orbit.

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