Commercial Low Earth Orbit Destinations Program

The Commercial Low Earth Orbit Destinations Program is an initiative by NASA to support work on commercial space stations that the agency hopes to have in place by the end of the current decade to replace the aging International Space Station.

On December 2, 2021, NASA issues awards valued at more than $400 million to three groups of companies to advance development of commercial space stations. The largest award, at $160 million, went to a team led by Nanoracks and includes Voyager Space Holdings and Lockheed Martin for a space station called Starlab that could be ready as soon as 2027. A second award, valued at $130 million, went to a team led by Blue Origin for the Orbital Reef space station announced Oct. 25. That project includes Boeing, Redwire and Sierra Space, among others, with a goal of entering initial operations in the latter half of the 2020s. The third award, worth $125.6 million, went to a previously undisclosed concept from Northrop Grumman. That proposed station would leverage the company’s work on the Cygnus cargo spacecraft, Mission Extension Vehicle satellite servicing program and the Habitation and Logistics Outpost module it is building for NASA’s Lunar Gateway.[1]