World's first PRIVATE space station to launch next year: Haven-1 features queen-size beds, a state-of-the-art gym, and maple wood interiors

While travelling to space might be a dream for many people, the reality of life in orbit has never been all that comfortable.

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) spend their days camping out in a noisy, cramped, and often smelly metal tube whizzing around the Earth.

But as the ISS reaches the end of its life, one company plans on making space travel a lot more glamorous as early as next year.

Haven-1, the world's first private space station, features queen-size beds, a state-of-the-art gym, and even maple wood interiors.

Designed by the US-based space startup Vast, the Haven-1 space station could launch into orbit by 2026.

Just like the ISS, astronauts will live aboard the floating laboratory to conduct scientific research and test manufacturing techniques for microgravity.

However, with its soft, padded interiors and 'human-centric' design, astronauts aboard Haven-1 should be a lot more comfortable than in the Spartan conditions of the ISS.

This update comes as Vast partners with the Swiss watch manufacturer IWC Schaffhausen, making the company the official timekeeper for the station.

Compared to the sprawling structure of the ISS, the Haven-1 space station will be relatively small.

Haven-1 will have a diameter of 4.4 metres (14.7 feet) and a usable volume of 45 cubic metres (1,500 cubic feet).

That is about the same volume as the inside of a single-deck bus and just an eighth as big as the 388 cubic metres (13,696 cubic feet) of volume on the ISS.

However, despite its small size, Haven-1 promises to offer its astronauts a far more comfortable experience than that offered by the ISS.

Without the pull of gravity to pull you down, sleeping in space can be a serious problem.

On the ISS, the luckier astronauts sleep in phone-box-sized cupboards while the rest strap into sleeping bags and tether themselves to walls to avoid drifting away.

Instead, Haven-1 offers four patent-pending signature sleep systems, arranged on the outside of the central corridor.

The company explains that its beds are 'roughly the size of a queen bed' and provide a 'customized amount of equal pressure throughout the night, and accommodates side and back sleepers alike'.

Most of the remaining space is dominated by a large common area, featuring a deployable table that can be folded into the floor when not in use.

The astronauts will be able to gaze down at Earth through an expansive 1.2-meter (four-foot) observation window.

This common area is where astronauts will spend most of their time, working at the in-built laboratory stations, relaxing and eating, or exercising at the state-of-the-art gym.

In order to avoid muscle and bone loss in low gravity, astronauts need to spend multiple hours a day exercising and training.

On Haven-1, the astronauts will have access to a resistance band system anchored to the walls.

Vast says that this system is 'capable of both linear and rotational resistance exercises, focusing on both upper and lower-body musculoskeletal health.' 

This living room will also feature one of the starkest departures from the purely functional design of the ISS, with a large section of wall being covered with wood panelling.

While the cost to build Haven-1 has not been disclosed, Vast says it will have invested about $1 billion by the time the station launches.

Vast CEO Max Haot says: 'We're building the most innovative space station in the universe.'

However, unlike the ISS, Haven-1 is not intended for long-term habitation.

Vast has previously described Haven-1 as a 'minimal viable' space station, intended as a rapidly deployed proof of concept for bigger projects to come.

The space station will only host four astronauts at a time for missions lasting between 10 and 30 days.

When the station isn't occupied, it will be used to test artificial gravity technologies as a stepping stone to more long-term space habitation.

Compared to the months spent by astronauts on the ISS, these brief stays won't give missions to Haven-1 much time for research projects.

However, the rapid approach could allow Vast to become the first private company to launch a space station.

Mr Haot says: 'This isn't an artist's rendering – this is the actual design, being executed and built right now.'

Ahead of the launch of Haven-1 next year, Vast will launch the Haven Demo later this year.

This small satellite will test the critical systems needed to make Haven-1 viable, such as propulsion, flight computers, and navigation software.

Going forward, Vast hopes that Haven-1 will pave the way for a much larger, modular station based on the ISS's design called Haven-2.

This station will have an internal volume of 500 cubic metres (17,660 cubic feet) and will host up to 12 astronauts on a more permanent basis.