Building a private space station: Q&A with Axiom Space CTO Matt Ondler

Private companies are getting ready to take the baton from the International Space Station (ISS).

The ISS, which has hosted rotating astronaut crews continuously for more than 20 years, is expected to retire around 2030. (Congress has officially approved it to operate only through 2024, but an extension is widely expected.) If all goes according to plan, several commercial outposts will be up running and in low Earth orbit (LEO) by then.