Space station startup Vast has cut 4% of its workforce as the new space race heats up.
The startup, which is developing a commercial replacement for the International Space Station (ISS), fired 46 employees on Wednesday, Business Insider has learned.
The cuts come months after Vast raised $500 million in a funding round aimed at launching the world’s first commercial space station in 2027.
A spokesperson for the startup confirmed the cuts, which they said were performance-related. They added that the company was still hiring and had 277 open roles.
“As part of our mid-year review cycle, Vast parted ways with employees who were not meeting expectations. We are backfilling these positions and are continuing to grow and execute,” the spokesperson said.
Business Insider spoke to two employees affected by the job losses, who said no issues had been raised about the quality or output of their work during their 1:1s with managers or in performance reviews over the past few months.
While many tech companies have been reducing their workforces in recent years, it is rare for mass cuts to be performance-based. Last year, Meta cut 5% of its staff and said it was focusing on its lowest performers.
Vast
Founded in 2021 by crypto billionaire Jed McCaleb, Vast is one of several companies vying to build a commercial successor to the ISS, which is set to be deorbited in 2030.
The California-based startup plans to launch Haven-1, its first space station, next year on a SpaceX rocket. Vast says it will begin launching Haven-2, the modular 12-person space station the company plans to use to replace the ISS, by 2028.
Like Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Vast’s long-term plans sound like something pulled from science fiction. The company’s ultimate ambition is to build space stations that will rotate in orbit to produce their own artificial gravity.
Recently, Vast has expanded into satellite manufacturing and struck a deal with the European Space Agency to send its astronauts to the ISS.
It comes amid uncertainty over NASA’s plans to fund a new generation of commercial space stations. In March, the agency proposed a new post-ISS strategy based around a single space station, but withdrew it in June after backlash from across the space industry.
