NASA wants bids by Dec. 8 for stations to keep astronauts in orbit after the ISS

NASA has set Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2026, as the deadline for companies to submit proposals for commercial space stations that would keep astronauts in low Earth orbit after the International Space Station retires. The agency released the final Request for Proposals on Friday, Oct. 9, and expects to announce awards in spring 2027. NASA’s release, issued from Washington on the day of the request, names the due date and the award window as the two fixed points of a competition that will decide which American companies operate the next crewed destinations in orbit once the ISS is gone.

The solicitation asks industry to design, build, test, certify and operate its own stations, with NASA as a customer buying services rather than an owner of hardware. At the draft stage in July, Isaacman described the agency’s role as “one customer among many” in a “viable commercial marketplace,” language that frames Dec. 8 as the start of a market and not only of a procurement.

The Final Request and Its Dec. 8 Deadline

According to NASA release 26-086, the final request invites American industry to submit plans for next-generation commercial low Earth orbit destinations. Proposals are due on Tuesday, Dec. 8. The release does not give a time of day, and the solicitation itself is posted on SAM.gov, the federal contracting portal.

Under the request, companies would provide end-to-end destination and transportation services for human spaceflight. That covers the station and the means of getting crews and cargo to it, so a bidder must propose both the destination and the transportation service that reaches it, along with the plan to certify the whole system for NASA crews.

Contracts Rather Than Space Act Agreements

NASA plans firm-fixed-price, multi-award, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contracts, and the agency said it intends to select two or more contractors for early development. A competitive task order would then cover final design, test, evaluation, certification and services, and could go to one or more of those contractors. The release says these are contracts, not Space Act Agreements, the funded-partnership instrument used in the program’s earlier phase.

The structure matches the draft. ExecutiveGov reported that the draft, released Monday, July 6, 2026, laid out the same approach: Federal Acquisition Regulation-based, full and open competition, with firm-fixed-price, multiple-award contracts for developing, certifying and delivering station services. The draft drew industry feedback through July 27 and a July 9 briefing at Johnson Space Center in Houston, and NASA also held an industry day and one-on-one meetings before the final version.

Payload reported that NASA had weighed attaching a core module to the ISS before reversing course after industry pushback and returning to stand-alone commercial stations. The final request follows the March 24, 2026, Ignition sessions and the March 2026 Requests for Information tied to NASA’s Ignition initiatives, which asked industry about a core module, commercial modules and crew and cargo transportation and anticipated demand for two crew missions and four to five cargo missions a year.

NASA’s own program page describes the lineage. Its earlier phase was built on funded Space Act Agreements with a three-year base period and milestones that at minimum covered critical design review readiness and an initial crewed in-space demonstration, while the following phase was to use Federal Acquisition Regulation-based contracts to buy station services. The final request is that second step, and its Dec. 8 deadline marks the point at which the program moves from design milestones to buying a service that NASA astronauts will use after the ISS leaves orbit.

Isaacman’s Case and the 2030 Handover

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said the agency is “committed to maintaining a sustained American presence in low Earth orbit” after the ISS retires. He said commercial stations may support research, technology development, crew training and preparation for Moon and Mars missions. Isaacman also stated that, “NASA will never give up its presence in low Earth orbit,” and that the economics must work for the companies and for the agency. NASA wants credible plans, strong technical execution and companies willing to invest in destinations that can serve NASA and develop their own markets, he said. The last requirement is the commercial test in the solicitation: a station that NASA is the only customer for would not match the marketplace Isaacman described.

The deadline sits against a fixed clock. NASA’s commercial space stations page says the ISS nears the end of its operational life in 2030. It lists Axiom Space, Blue Origin with Orbital Reef, Starlab Space, which Northrop Grumman joined after withdrawing from its own agreement, and Vast with Haven-1 among the developers in the program’s earlier phase. The page was last updated Aug. 15, 2025, and the final request does not name which companies will bid.

The release gives no dollar value, no maximum number of awards and no ISS retirement date.

This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.

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