Axiom places a $125 million order with Gravitics, the space station startup.

• Axiom Space signed a $125 million contract with Washington-based startup Gravitics to expand its planned space station.
• Gravitics plans to manufacture private space stations with modules that boast the "largest interior volume in a standalone spacecraft," according to the company.
• Colin Doughan, CEO and founder of Gravitics, stated to CNBC that the company is both building and finalizing design at the same time due to its hardware-rich status.

Axiom Space has secured a $125 million contract from Washington-based startup Gravitics to expand its planned space station, marking the latest transaction in the growing private market for space habitats.

Colin Doughan, CEO and founder of Gravitics, told CNBC that working with the station operator who will have hardware on orbit soonest is an exciting development.

NASA plans for the International Space Station to end its time in orbit, and several companies, including Axiom, are building private space stations. Axiom has already modules of its space station being built by Italian aerospace contractor Thales Alenia. The Gravitics order adds another "pressurized spacecraft" that would attach to Axiom's station after its planned launch in two years.

Gravitics, founded in 2021, has secured its most significant agreement with Axiom, which was worth $20 million in venture funding. The company aims to establish itself as a manufacturer of private space stations.

The company, with nearly 50 employees, is located in a northern suburb of Seattle and aims to offer space station modules as a ready-to-use product line that can be launched on various rockets, including SpaceX's Falcon 9 and future rockets such as Blue Origin's New Glenn.

Gravitics' space station modules range in diameter from 3 to 8 meters, with the largest module, StarMax, boasting the largest interior volume in a standalone spacecraft.

Doughan stated, "We commenced by examining Starship and asserting, 'Someone will optimize that cargo space.'"

NASA's Commercial LEO Destinations (CLD) program has been awarding development contracts to companies constructing space stations in preparation for the ISS's planned destruction at the end of the decade. Axiom was the first company to receive a NASA contract for building space station modules, and Gravitics will connect its spacecraft later this decade.

But Gravitics' deal is not exclusive, Doughan said.

Doughan stated that while they have no interest in operations, they anticipate seeing some of their space station modules incorporated into the designs for the second phase of CLD.

Gravitics has been developing and testing prototypes, including firing its propulsion system and pressure-testing module prototypes. Doughan stated that Gravitics plans to send some of its components to the ISS for testing and aims to launch a subscale spacecraft by 2026.

Doughan stated that as a hardware-rich company, we are simultaneously building and finalizing design.

Gravitics signed an agreement with NASA on new approaches to testing large spacecraft and an early Space Force development contract, which Doughan emphasized represents Gravitics working "with those customers that are ready to buy."

NASA's budget is being surpassed by Space Force's, and this trend will continue, according to Doughan.

Gravitics' growth is being fueled by the Axiom deal, according to Doughan, who revealed plans to double the company's head count and launch a new round of fundraising in the near future.