Reading station specs: volume vs crew
Station spec sheets range from Vast's 45 m³ Haven-1 to Blue Origin's 830 m³ Orbital Reef. Almost all of these are design figures, not flown hardware — here is how to read them against the ISS's ~916 m³.
When commercial stations are compared, two numbers dominate the spec sheets: habitable volume and crew capacity. Before reading either, one caveat matters more than anything else — almost every figure in this field is a design specification, not flown reality. As of early 2026, no commercial station is in orbit yet, so these numbers describe ambitions, not hardware overhead.
The designs split into two camps. Vast's Haven-1 is deliberately compact: about 45 m³ of habitable volume, a crew of 4, and stays of roughly ten days — a minimum viable station meant to fly first and grow later. At the other end, Blue Origin's Orbital Reef envisions about 830 m³ and roughly 10 crew, and Voyager's Starlab sits in between at around 340 m³. For reference, the ISS — assembled over decades by multiple governments — offers about 916 m³ of habitable volume and hosts around 7 crew.
The lesson of spaceflight history is that a small station that actually flies matters more than a large one on paper. Volume and crew capacity tell you the size of each company's ambition; development stage tells you how real it is. We show all three so that an 830 m³ rendering and a 45 m³ vehicle on a launch pad can be told apart at a glance.