What Axiom Space does
Axiom Space is a company based in Houston. It flies private astronaut missions to the International Space Station (ISS). It is developing spacesuits for NASA and plans a commercial space station of its own. Kam Ghaffarian co-founded it in 2016 and is its executive chairman, according to the company. Jonathan Cirtain's appointment as chief executive was announced on October 15, 2025. He is also president.
NASA's private astronaut missions page lists four Axiom Space flights, the first of them the first private astronaut mission to the station. Axiom Mission 1 lifted off on April 8, 2022. Others followed in May 2023, January 2024 and June 2025. On January 30, 2026, NASA said it had signed an order for a fifth Axiom mission, targeted to launch no earlier than January 2027.
Space station and spacesuit contracts
On January 27, 2020, NASA selected Axiom Space to provide at least one habitable commercial module to be attached to the ISS. A month later NASA awarded a contract with a maximum potential value of $140 million. Payload reported in December 2024 that the company had reordered its plan at NASA's request. It reported that a Payload Power Thermal Module would go to the ISS first, then undock and join a habitat module to form an independent station. In February 2026, Payload reported that the first module was expected to launch no earlier than 2028. The company's station page listed the same sequence without launch dates as of October 2026.
On September 7, 2022, NASA chose Axiom Space for a task order to develop a next-generation spacesuit and supporting systems for its Artemis Moon program. The order's base value was $228.5 million. At the time, the suits were to be demonstrated on the lunar surface during the Artemis III mission.
On June 4, 2026, the company announced the final close of a financing round at more than $525 million. It said the money would support the station, the spacesuit and its wider technology plans.
Computing in orbit
On April 7, 2025, Axiom Space said it would launch its first two Orbital Data Center (ODC) nodes by the end of that year. It said they would be part of Kepler Communications' optical relay constellation. It described them as an acceleration of its plans for free-flying nodes. In 2023 it had announced an initial data center for its station. Kepler said the same day that Axiom Space had purchased two computing payloads. SpaceNews reported that the nodes would fly on Kepler satellites. In September 2025, the Texas Space Commission announced a grant of up to $5.5 million for development of the data center.
Axiom Space's orbital data center page says the first two nodes launched on January 11, 2026 with Kepler's first tranche of satellites. It says a prototype called AxDCU-1 was deployed on the ISS in the fall of 2025.
On October 6, 2026, the company said it operates two Axiom Resilient Compute (ARC) units in orbit, launched earlier that year as part of Kepler's constellation. It said it has confirmed communications between them and with the ground. The release does not use the ODC name or say whether the ARC units are the nodes announced in 2025. Both are described as two units in Kepler's network with 2.5 gigabit per second optical links. The operating status is the company's own claim. The company also said a ground test had migrated a workload protected with post-quantum encryption. It named a demonstration in orbit as its next milestone. The site's orbital data center tracker follows these and other projects.
Axiom Space timeline
Axiom Space says it operates two Axiom Resilient Compute units in orbit and has confirmed communications between them and with the ground.
Source: Axiom Space
Axiom Space announces the final close of a financing round at more than $525 million, with MUFG Bank joining as a new investor.
Source: Axiom Space
NASA says it has signed an order with Axiom Space for a fifth private astronaut mission, targeted to launch no earlier than January 2027.
Source: NASA
Axiom Space says its first two orbital data center nodes launched to low Earth orbit with Kepler Communications' first tranche of satellites.
Source: Axiom Space
Axiom Space says it will launch its first two Orbital Data Center nodes by the end of 2025 as part of Kepler's relay constellation.
Source: Axiom Space
NASA selects Axiom Space for a task order, with a base value of $228.5 million, to develop a spacesuit it then planned to demonstrate on the Moon during Artemis III.
Source: NASA
Axiom Mission 1, described by NASA as the first all private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, lifts off from Florida.
Source: NASA
NASA selects Axiom Space to provide at least one habitable commercial module to be attached to the International Space Station.
Source: NASA
Sources
- Kam Ghaffarian, Axiom Space
- Axiom Space Appoints Dr. Jonathan Cirtain as CEO and President, Axiom Space
- Private Astronaut Missions, NASA
- Axiom Private Astronauts Headed to International Space Station, NASA
- NASA Selects Axiom Space for Fifth Private Mission to Space Station, NASA
- NASA Selects First Commercial Destination Module for International Space Station, NASA
- Axiom Space Adjusts Space Station Plans, Payload
- Axiom Space Raises $350M to Fuel Station, Suit Development, Payload
- Axiom Station, Axiom Space
- NASA Taps Axiom Space for First Artemis Moonwalking Spacesuits, NASA
- Axiom Space Closed Oversubscribed Financing at $525M+, Axiom Space
- Axiom Space to Launch Orbital Data Center Nodes to Support National Security, Commercial, International Customers, Axiom Space
- Kepler Announces On-Orbit Compute Capacity on Optical Data Relay Network, Kepler Communications
- Axiom Space to launch orbital data centers on Kepler satellites, SpaceNews
- Texas Space Commission Awards Grant to Axiom Space, Inc., Texas Space Commission
- TSC News and Updates, Texas Space Commission
- Orbital Data Centers, Axiom Space
- Axiom Space, Kepler Ready Orbital Computing for Quantum Era, Axiom Space
