Vast hires former Air Force officer to lead new national security division

Vast hires former Air Force officer to lead new national security division

Commercial space station developer Vast is deepening its ties to the defense sector with the creation of a special programs unit focused on national security space projects, the company announced July 22.

Melanie Stricklan, a 21-year U.S. Air Force veteran and co-founder of space domain awareness firm Slingshot Aerospace, joins Vast as senior vice president of special programs. She will lead the newly formed division, which the company says will deliver space-based capabilities for the U.S. defense and intelligence communities.

“Vast combines proven spaceflight expertise, advanced manufacturing and a mission-first mindset to support the United States’ most critical national security missions in low Earth orbit and beyond,” Stricklan said in a statement.

The move signals an intentional pivot for the Long Beach, California-based company, best known for developing Haven-1, the would-be first commercial space station slated for launch in early 2027. Vast announced in May it was expanding into high-power satellite buses, with CEO Max Haot explicitly citing national security applications as a key driver.

“We are going towards a world where low-cost but high-power satellites are really the future,” Haot said at the time.

Stricklan’s appointment is the latest sign of the defense establishment’s growing interest in Vast. In-Q-Tel, the venture arm of the U.S. national security community, invested in the company last year. Around the same period, Space Force Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy visited Vast’s facilities in Long Beach as part of a tour of commercial space companies.

Haot has previously discussed the possibility of Space Force personnel eventually serving in orbit. While no service members currently work in space outside of those assigned to NASA astronaut crews, he argued the shift is inevitable.

“It’s only a matter of time,” Haot said last fall. “Of course, in 10 years, 50 years, 100 years, they will be in space, so let’s do it quicker.”

Vast was founded in 2021 by Jed McCaleb and has raised substantial capital, including $500 million in Series C funding in March 2026 led by the Qatar Investment Authority. The company has grown to over 400 employees and is expanding its manufacturing footprint in Long Beach as it races toward the first Haven-1 launch.