In Space Infrastructure, Living in Space, Space Settlement

Space habitat reports – Apr.4.2025

Here is a new selection of videos, articles, and news items about space habitats (govt and commercial), living in space, and space settlement.

=== International Space Station & NASA

** Space to Ground: Preboarding for Spaceflight: April 04, 2025 | NASA Johnson

** Space to Ground: Transitional Period: March 28, 2025 | NASA Johnson

** NASA Astronaut Don Pettit Talks with Neil deGrasse Tyson’s “Star Talk” – Thursday, April 3, 2025 | NASA Video

Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 72 flight Don Pettit of NASA discussed life and work aboard the orbital outpost during an in-flight interview April 3 with Neil deGrasse Tyson’s “Star Talk” Program. Pettit is in the midst of a long-duration mission living and working aboard the microgravity laboratory to advance scientific knowledge and demonstrate new technologies for future human and robotic exploration flights as part of NASA’s Moon and Mars exploration approach, including lunar missions through NASA’s Artemis program.

** NASA’s Northrop Grumman Cargo Resupply Services-21 Departure – Friday, March 28, 2025  | NASA Video

The unpiloted Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo spacecraft for the company’s 22nd commercial resupply services mission for NASA was released from the nadir port of the Unity Module of the International Space Station March 28 by flight controllers on the ground in Houston, Texas. Cygnus launched on Aug. 4 from the Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Following a deorbit engine firing on March 30, Cygnus will begin a destructive re-entry in which the spacecraft, filled with trash, will burn up in Earth’s atmosphere.

See also: Cygnus Departs Station After Release from Robotic Arm | NASA – Mar.28.2025

** NASA’s Suni Williams hands over command of ISS to Russian crewmate in ceremony | VideoFromSpace

NASA astronaut Suni Williams gave the key to the International Space Station to Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin during a change of command ceremony on March 7, 2025.

** Microbes and the Microbial “Situation on Station.”  | ISS National Lab

In this bonus clip from the 1st episode of “Between A Rocket & A Hard Space,” a podcast from the International Space Station (ISS) National Laboratory, host Patrick O’Neill and Dr. Michael Roberts, Chief Scientific Officer of the ISS National Lab, discuss Dr. Mike’s passion: microbes in a closed environment.

*About the Podcast*: Join your host, Patrick O’Neill, Public Affairs lead at the International Space Station National Laboratory, for “Between A Rocket and A Hard Space,” a podcast that explores space-based research with visionaries from academia, government, and private businesses who have launched their R&D to the ISS. People just like you are addressing those pesky hard spaces created by research limitations here on the ground and putting their research on a rocket to test what’s possible in space.

Between a Rocket and a Hard Space is brought to you by the International Space Station National Laboratory, managed by the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space.

** The ISS Cupola observation module:

** In Defense Of The Space Station | TMRO

In this video, members of the TMRO crew explain why we shouldn’t retire the ISS early in 2027, what benefits it serves, and a reminder that SpaceX might not exist without it.

** MISSION UPDATE – SpaceX Fram2 Human Polar Mission | The Launch Pad

A glimpse into the activities of the SpaceX Fram 2 crew; the first human spaceflight to fly over Earth’s polar regions from low-Earth orbit.

=== Commercial space habitats

** Axiom Space

— Free floating station configuration now possible as early as 2028:

** Gravitics

–— Gravitics wins grant from the US Space Force to demonstrate use of their orbital carrier modules for military applications:

** Starlab – Voyager Technologies

–— Starlab aims for 2028 launch of the first station module: Private Starlab space station moves into ‘full-scale development’ ahead of 2028 launch | Space.com – Mar.18.2025

The completion of the PDR (see previous Habitat Report) raises the company’s confidence in meeting the launch date goal.

** VAST

— Vast to use NASA vacuum facility: Vast Secures Agreement with NASA to test Haven-1 Flight Vehicle at Armstrong Test Facility | VAST – Apr.3.2025

Vast and NASA have signed an agreement to allow Vast to perform the final environmental test campaign of the Haven-1 flight-ready station at NASA’s Glenn Research Center at Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky, Ohio. Haven-1 testing will occur at the Neil Armstrong Test Facility’s Space Environments Complex, home to some of the world’s largest and most capable space simulation test facilities. Scheduled to begin in early 2026, Haven-1 will undergo rigorous testing to verify its performance and reliability when exposed to environments it will experience during launch and on-orbit operations, including acoustics, vibration, electromagnetic interference, and thermal vacuum.

See also Vast signs agreement to test Haven-1 at NASA facility | SpaceNews – Apr.3.2025.

— Update on Haven-1 flight module construction:

— Solar panel deployment testing:

=== Chinese space habitats

** China’s Shenzhou-19 Crew Completes Multiple Tasks in Third Spacewalk – CCTV Video News Agency

Members of the Shenzhou-19 crew aboard China’s orbiting space station Tiangong completed their mission’s third series of extravehicular activities (EVAs) at 20:50 (Beijing Time) on Friday, according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA).

** Riveting View of Earth Captured from China’s Space Station – CCTV Video News Agency

Video footages shot recently through a window of China’s Tiangong space station in orbit offered breathtaking views of the Earth spinning in space like a shimmering blue gem.

** An in-space snapshot of the Chinese space station:

=== Space Settlement

** Broadcast 4352 John Jossy | The Space Show – David Livingston interviewed John Jossy who runs the Space Settlement Progress blog.

John returned to The Space Show to discuss his having used four AI programs to look at the Musk-SpaceX plans for launching supply and humans to Mars between 2030-2050. John wanted to know how many launch sites would be required for the plans Musk has announced to date. During this program, John went through his questions for AI, his assumptions and he he evolved his model. We also disected each of the AI responses. With listener emails and phone calls, this was a thorough discussion but specific to the question John asked the AI with the assumptions he made. All of this was made very transparent on this program.

** Relying on technology to sustain our lives in space is nothing unusual – Dr. Phil Metzger, director of the Stephen W. Hawking Center for Microgravity Research & Education at Univ. of Central Florida:

** Space Habitats Living in Space CTEEs Meeting…  |  Space Renaissance

Participants: Jerry Stone, Thomas Matula, Werner Grandl, Marie-Luise Heuser, Mary Kuiper, Adriano V. Autino

** US Military Wants to Grow Biological Structures in Space | Sabine Hossenfelder

Last month, DARPA published a call for proposals on how to “grow” massive biological structures in space. It’s not as crazy as it sounds: The space race is heating up outside of the weird space biology sector. Some startups are building self-assembling space habitats, others are working on spaceports, and the ISS’s successor is in development. Let’s take a look.

The DARPA Call: https://sam.gov/opp/426e5868fcf74dd4a…

=== Lunar habitation

** Lunar resources:

— Open Space 68: Dangers and Rewards of Moon Mining with Dr. Phil Metzger | Fraser Cain

Today I’m joined by Dr. Phil Metzger, a planetary physicist with the Planetary Science faculty at the University of Central Florida. Phil specializes in economic planetary science, helping humanity learn to prosper in space.

— Moon versus Mars or Moon and Mars: Is the Moon in America’s future? Unpacking the strategic debate | The Space Review – Mar.17.2025

Mars-direct advocates argue that modern technology has made lunar steppingstones unnecessary and potentially counterproductive. Why spend precious years and billions of dollars developing lunar infrastructure when we could invest those resources in reaching Mars sooner? The Red Planet, they contend, offers humanity’s best chance for a self-sustaining civilization beyond Earth.

Moon-first proponents counter that skipping lunar development would be dangerously premature. They argue that establishing lunar operations would accelerate, not delay, humanity’s path to Mars. Beyond the Mars debate, they contend that the Moon presents compelling opportunities in its own right. Commercial interests see potential for profitable ventures from tourism to resource extraction. National security experts view lunar presence as essential for preventing strategic competitors from dominating space. The choice between these approaches will determine not just where humans next land, but how quickly and safely we can establish a permanent presence beyond Earth.

=== Mars habitation

** LIVING IN MARTIAN MUSHROOMS: An Alternative Building Material for Space Habitats | National Space Society on Youtube

As humanity prepares for long-term habitation on Mars and the Moon, the need for sustainable and lightweight building materials has never been greater. Traditional construction methods rely on heavy payloads from Earth, but what if we could grow our habitats instead? In this episode, we explore the groundbreaking work of Dr. Lynne Rothschild and NASA’s research into fungal mycelium-based architecture. Discover how synthetic biology and mycotecture could revolutionize space habitation, offering self-growing, durable, and adaptive structures for off-world colonies. Could Martian mushrooms be the key to our interplanetary future?

From Ad Astra Magazine
Written & Read by Rod Pyle

** No City on Mars? | National Space Society on Youtube

A review on the book “A City on Mars” by NSS COO Dale Skran
https://nss.org/critique-of-a-city-on…

No City On Mars
A Review By Dale Skran
From Ad Astra 2024Q2
Written & Read by Dale Skran
Produced by Isaac Arthur / SFIA 2025

=== Other space habitat and settlement news and articles:

=== Earth views from ISS

** See SpaceX Fram2 crew’s amazing views of Earth’s poles from orbit | VideoFromSpace

A camera mounted on the SpaceX Fram2 mission’s Dragon spacecraft captured views of Earth’s poles. Full Story: https://www.space.com/space-explorati…

** Live Video from the International Space Station (Official NASA Stream) – NASA

Watch live video from the International Space Station, including inside views when the crew aboard the space station is on duty. Views of Earth are also streamed from an external camera located outside of the space station. During periods of signal loss due to handover between communications satellites, a blue screen is displayed.

The space station orbits Earth about 250 miles (425 kilometers) above the surface. An international partnership of five space agencies from 15 countries operates the station, and it has been continuously occupied since November 2000. It’s a microgravity laboratory where science, research, and human innovation make way for new technologies and research breakthroughs not possible on Earth. More: https://go.nasa.gov/3CkVtC8

Did you know you can spot the station without a telescope? It looks like a fast-moving star, but you have to know when to look up. Sign up for text messages or email alerts to let you know when (and where) to spot the station and wave to the crew: https://spotthestation.nasa.gov

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ISS after undocking of STS-132

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Outpost in Orbit:
A Pictorial & Verbal History of the Space Station