Vast, a company that’s “developing humanity’s next-generation space stations and pioneering the path to long-term living and thriving in space,” will make its Haven-1 VR app available to the public.
This will allow users to explore the interior of Haven-1, the world’s first commercial space station. Available on the Apple App Store, Meta, and Steam, the experience provides users with an intimate look at what life is like aboard a next-generation space station, designed with a human-centric approach. Now, space enthusiasts, educators, and others around the globe can virtually observe and engage with the station’s advanced technology and capabilities, including crew quarters, the common area, and the Haven-1 Lab, with the help of VR.
Vast Lead Astronaut, and former Acting Chief Astronaut at NASA, Andrew Feustel, serves as the narrator of the simulation, and also advised on the app’s development. With three missions to space and 197 days on the International Space Station, Feustel’s input was essential to ensuring an accurate simulation of being onboard a space station, according to the folks at Vast.
In the opening, Feustel greets the user at Vast headquarters in Long Beach, California, where Haven-1 is currently being designed and manufactured. His voice then guides the user through the station’s interior, inviting them to interact with life support systems and other critical components showcasing the functionality of the station.
Much like on a real mission aboard Haven-1, the app enables users to run experiments and partake in routine astronaut activities including accessing storage areas for food and crew equipment, and checking a digital crew interface that monitors the station’s systems.
Users can also interact with the simulated Haven-1 Lab, the world’s first microgravity research, development, and manufacturing platform on a commercial, crewed space station. In the Haven-1 Lab, the user can check on experiments and view payloads from inaugural lab partners Redwire and Yuri, both foremost experts in developing microgravity payloads.
Other features of Haven-1 VR include the 1.1 m domed window, which boasts an immersive, 180-degree view of Earth, and the revolutionary zero gravity sleep system, which provides optimal support and comfort to astronauts while they sleep. Feustel specifically provided guidance on the simulated experience of looking through the window and the “overview effect”, a documented phenomenon that Feustel and other astronauts have experienced when viewing the Earth from space.
Scheduled to launch no earlier than May 2026, Haven-1 represents a preliminary step toward Vast’s vision of pioneering the future of long-term space habitation.
Download the VR app from Meta, the App Store, or Steam to follow Vast’s progress and get an up-close look at the world’s first commercial space station. https://www.vastspace.com/haven-1-vr
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