Space station design jobs in 2026: who is building the ISS replacement and who they are hiring

The International Space Station is scheduled for deorbit around 2030. Four commercial programs are racing to replace it, and all of them are hiring engineers right now. If you work in structures, ECLSS, thermal, GNC, or systems engineering, the next 3 years represent the largest hiring wave in human spaceflight since the Shuttle-era station assembly program.

NASA's Commercial LEO Destinations (CLD) program provides the funding backbone, but the designs themselves are coming from private companies with very different architectural philosophies. Some are building rigid modules inspired by the ISS. Others are betting on inflatable habitats. One is aiming for a single-launch station. Another has long-term artificial gravity ambitions. All of them need engineers who understand how to keep humans alive in orbit.

The four programs and how they differ

Axiom Station: ISS heritage, module by module

Axiom Space in Houston is taking the most conservative approach. Their plan: attach rigid aluminum modules to the ISS first, operate them using ISS power and life support, then detach the modules as a free-flying station before ISS deorbits. The first module, Axiom Hab 1, is designed to launch on a Falcon Heavy or Starship.

The ISS-attached transition strategy reduces risk. Axiom's modules operate in a known environment with backup systems before going independent. The downside: the architecture inherits ISS-era design constraints. Module diameter is limited by launch vehicle fairing size, and rigid aluminum shells deliver less habitable volume per kilogram than newer approaches.

Axiom is the furthest along in terms of NASA partnership depth. They have already flown 4 private astronaut missions to the ISS and have the strongest operational track record of any commercial station developer.

Orbital Reef: inflatable habitat plus rigid core

This is the joint venture between Blue Origin (Kent, WA) and Sierra Space (Louisville, CO). Blue Origin builds the Node module, a rigid structure housing docking ports, power distribution, and core systems. Sierra Space provides the LIFE inflatable habitat, which expands from launch configuration to roughly three times the pressurized volume of a comparable rigid module.

The mixed architecture gives Orbital Reef the best volume-per-launch-mass ratio of any proposed station. LIFE's softgoods construction (woven Vectran and Kevlar layers) also provides better micrometeoroid protection than equivalent-mass aluminum, which is counterintuitive but has been proven in testing. Read more about Sierra Space's programs in our post on Sierra Space in 2026.

Starlab: entire station in one launch

Voyager Space (Denver, CO) partnered with Airbus Defence and Space and Northrop Grumman for Starlab. The design fits inside a single Starship payload fairing. After reaching orbit, it deploys solar arrays and radiators, and it is operational. No orbital assembly. No multi-year construction sequence.

Starlab features a 340 cubic meter inflatable habitat (built by Northrop Grumman), a metallic hub with docking ports, and capacity for 4 crew members. The single-launch approach dramatically simplifies the program. One rocket, one deployment, one station.

Vast Haven-1: the gravity question

Vast (Long Beach, CA) is building Haven-1 as a single-module pathfinder station. The initial vehicle is modest: one pressurized module for up to 4 crew, launched on Falcon 9 or Starship. Haven-1 is a stepping stone.

What sets Vast apart is where they are headed. Haven-2 and subsequent iterations aim to generate artificial gravity by spinning connected modules. Long-duration microgravity causes bone loss, muscle atrophy, vision damage, and fluid redistribution. A spin-gravity station could enable permanent orbital habitation without these health costs. Nobody else is seriously pursuing this.

Engineering disciplines that space station design requires

Every station, regardless of whether it uses rigid or inflatable modules, must solve the same fundamental problems. These subsystems are where the jobs are.

Structural engineering

Pressure vessels, docking mechanisms, deployable structures, and the primary load paths that hold everything together during launch and orbital operations. Rigid station work uses aluminum-lithium alloys and traditional aerospace manufacturing. Inflatable habitat work involves textile engineering, membrane stress analysis, and softgoods deployment mechanisms.

Sierra Space and Northrop Grumman need softgoods structures specialists. Axiom and Vast need traditional metallic pressure vessel engineers. Everyone needs analysts who can run finite element models under combined launch and pressurization loads.

Browse structures engineering jobs for current openings.

ECLSS (Environmental Control and Life Support)

This is the most critical and hardest-to-staff discipline in station design. ECLSS keeps the crew alive: oxygen generation via water electrolysis, CO2 removal, temperature and humidity control, water recycling, trace contaminant monitoring, and fire detection. The ISS ECLSS recycles around 90% of water but requires constant maintenance.

Commercial stations are exploring improved technologies. Solid oxide electrolysis for more efficient O2 generation. Metal-organic framework (MOF) sorbents for CO2 capture. Bioregenerative systems using algae or plants for supplemental oxygen and food production.

ECLSS engineers are among the rarest specialists in the industry. If you have a chemical engineering or environmental engineering background and any experience with closed-loop fluid systems, every station developer wants to talk to you.

Thermal engineering

Orbital thermal environments are brutal. The sun-facing side of a station reaches roughly +120 degrees C. The shadow side drops to -160 degrees C. Active thermal control uses fluid loops (ammonia or propylene glycol) to transport heat to external radiators. Passive thermal control uses coatings, insulation, and heaters.

Commercial designs are exploring deployable radiators that unfurl in orbit and variable-emissivity surfaces that adapt to changing thermal conditions. See thermal engineering positions across the industry.

GNC and avionics

Station attitude control, orbit maintenance, docking automation, power management, and fault detection systems. Real-time embedded systems experience is essential. Stations must maintain attitude using control moment gyroscopes (CMGs) or reaction wheels while managing solar array pointing, thermal radiator orientation, and visiting vehicle approach corridors simultaneously.

Systems engineering

The discipline that ties everything together. Systems engineers manage requirements, subsystem interfaces, integration testing, and verification. Space station design involves hundreds of interface documents between structural, ECLSS, thermal, avionics, and power subsystems. A good systems engineer prevents $50 million integration problems by catching $500 requirements conflicts early.

Explore space systems engineering roles on Zero G Talent.

Where the space station design jobs are located

The companies building these stations are concentrated in a few metro areas:

• Houston, TX: Axiom Space headquarters, close to NASA Johnson Space Center where ISS expertise runs deep
• Kent, WA: Blue Origin's Orbital Reef work, alongside their New Glenn and Blue Moon programs
• Louisville, CO: Sierra Space LIFE habitat development, between Boulder and Denver
• Denver, CO: Voyager Space (Starlab program management)
• Long Beach, CA: Vast Haven-1 development
• Dulles, VA: Northrop Grumman's Starlab habitat contribution

For broader geographic searches, try space jobs in Texas, space jobs in Colorado, or space jobs in Washington.

The ISS cost roughly $150 billion and took 13 years to assemble. Commercial stations aim to launch for under $3 billion each. The engineering challenge is not building something as good as the ISS. It is building something better for 2% of the cost.

What makes a strong candidate for station design roles

Station design hiring managers look for specific things beyond a degree and years of experience:

• ISS subsystem knowledge. If you have worked on ISS hardware at NASA, a prime contractor, or a research institution, you are in demand. The lessons-learned database in your head is worth more than another FEA certification.
• Multidisciplinary exposure. Station design is inherently cross-disciplinary. An ECLSS engineer who understands thermal constraints, or a structures engineer who can discuss avionics mounting requirements, is more useful than a narrow specialist.
• Testing experience. Paper designs do not fly. Engineers who have built, tested, and iterated on hardware in environments like thermal vacuum chambers or structural test labs bring credibility that analysis-only candidates do not.
• Submarine, offshore, or extreme-environment experience. Closed habitats in hostile environments share engineering principles with space stations. This background transfers well, especially for ECLSS and habitability roles.

The timeline ahead

By 2030, the ISS will be gone and at least 2 of these commercial stations should be operational. The transition from government-built to commercially-operated orbital infrastructure is the single biggest structural change in human spaceflight since Apollo gave way to the Shuttle program. The companies listed above are hiring the teams that will design, build, test, and operate these stations. If your engineering skills fit the subsystems described here, the window to join is open now.