“Haven-1” Aims for 2026 Launch as McCaleb Competes for NASA Contract

Jed McCaleb, the serial entrepreneur known for co-founding Ripple and launching the now-defunct Mt. Gox exchange, is making waves in the aerospace industry. His space company, Vast, is working toward the launch of Haven-1, a commercial space station, by May 2026—positioning itself as a contender for NASA’s next-generation space station contract.

If successful, McCaleb’s company could become a front-runner to replace the aging International Space Station (ISS). However, failure to secure the NASA contract could reportedly wipe $1 billion off McCaleb’s net worth and cast doubt on Vast’s commercial viability, according to a March 20 Bloomberg report.

“A Necessary Leap for Humanity’s Future in Space”

In an interview, McCaleb emphasized his long-term goal of enabling humanity to become a multi-planetary species, echoing ambitions similar to those of SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.

“Now is the time to take that leap—from our current Earth-bound life to a world where people are living beyond Earth,” McCaleb said.

Founded in 2021, Vast is collaborating with SpaceX, utilizing its Dragon capsule docking systems, Starlink-powered in-space Wi-Fi, and other technologies.

Vast has also secured launch services and astronaut transportation agreements with SpaceX, pending NASA approval. The company has brought on several ex-SpaceX staff, including CEO and President Max Haot, to help realize its vision.

Vast is currently competing with Axiom Space, Voyager Space Holdings, Lockheed Martin, and Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin for the lucrative NASA contract.

Artificial Gravity and Future Ambitions: Haven-2 by 2028

One of Vast’s long-term objectives is to develop artificial gravity by rotating or accelerating its spacecraft, a solution aimed at preventing the organ damage reported by many astronauts after long ISS missions.

While Haven-1 won’t feature advanced life support systems such as wastewater recycling or CO2-to-oxygen conversion—used on the ISS—Haven-2, planned for 2028, is expected to include these capabilities for longer-term missions.

Both McCaleb and Haot have expressed willingness to board future flights themselves.

From Crypto to Cosmos: McCaleb’s Unorthodox Journey

McCaleb’s path into aerospace has been anything but conventional.

He first found success in the early 2000s with the file-sharing service eDonkey. In 2010, he founded Mt. Gox, which became the world’s largest Bitcoin exchange until it suffered a $400 million hack in 2014. McCaleb had sold the majority of his stake in 2011, prior to the collapse.

In 2012, he co-founded Ripple, and initially held 9% of all XRP tokens. After internal disputes, he left the company in 2013 and began selling his XRP holdings.

Between 2014 and 2022, McCaleb reportedly earned billions of dollars from XRP sales and Ripple equity.

He went on to found the Stellar network in 2014, a fork of Ripple, and launched the XLM token, which now has a market capitalization of approximately $8.7 billion, according to CoinGecko.

His longtime friend and former business partner Sam Yagan described McCaleb as a “deliberate risk-taker” with an analytical mindset.

“He’s maybe slightly eccentric in his willingness to take what you and I would see as a lot of risks,” Yagan said.

A Defining Moment for McCaleb and Vast in 2026

The launch of Haven-1 represents McCaleb’s most ambitious venture to date. With NASA set to decide on its ISS successor by mid-2026, Vast’s success or failure could reshape the future of private space exploration.

More than just a tech entrepreneur’s next move, McCaleb’s space station project could mark a historic step toward humanity’s expansion into space—or become one of the most expensive gambles in the history of aerospace entrepreneurship.