The APSIS-VII crew vehicle photographed in low Earth orbit, the planet's atmosphere a thin blue line behind it.

The Vessel · APSIS-VII

APSIS-VII.Built to be boringwhere it counts.

Crew6 + 2
Pressurized34 m³
Endurance5 days

Specification · APSIS-VII

The full sheet, nothing rounded up.

Every figure below is flight-qualified and reviewed before each window. We publish the numbers because the people who fly should be able to read them.

Airframe

AF-01
Height, stowed
8.1 m
Diameter, max
3.9 m
Dry mass
9,200 kg
Pressurized volume
34 m³

Crew & life support

LS-02
Crew, nominal
6 + 2
Endurance
5 days, free-flight
Life support
2 independent loops
Cabin pressure
101 kPa, sea-level mix

Safety

SF-03
Abort system
Pad-to-orbit, always armed
Abort latency
< 100 ms to ignition
Parachutes
4 mains, 2 drogues
Heat shield
PICA-X, ablative

Systems

SY-04
Windows
1.1 m cupola + 4 ports
Power
2 deployable arrays, 18 kW
Comms
Ka / S-band, full duplex
Propulsion
16 hypergolic thrusters

Key systems · four that matter

Redundancy you will never see, working the whole time.

Cutaway view of the APSIS-VII life-support bay, showing duplicated air and thermal lines.

SYSLS-02

Life support

Two loops, either one enough.

Air, water and thermal control run on two fully independent loops. If one stops, the cabin does not notice. The crew trains to fly the whole mission on a single loop, then never needs to.

Dual loop · scrubbers per loop · 5-day margin

APSIS-VII on the launch mount at dawn, abort motors integrated at the base of the crew section.

SYSSF-03

Launch abort

Pad to orbit, always armed.

The abort motors are live from the moment the crew is aboard until the vehicle is safely on orbit. There is no window in the ascent where the crew cannot get away. It has fired exactly zero times in flight.

Always armed · < 100 ms · 8 abort modes

Detail of the ablative heat shield base of the APSIS-VII crew vehicle.

SYSTP-04

Thermal protection

A shield rated for ten, retired at five.

Re-entry burns away a PICA-X ablative heat shield qualified for ten flights. We retire each shield after five. The margin is the point, and it is one we pay for so the crew does not.

PICA-X · 1,650 °C peak · retired at 5 flights

A crew member at the APSIS-VII cupola, the curve of the Earth filling the window.

SYSSY-04

The cupola

A 1.1 meter window on everything.

The cupola is the reason most of this exists. A single curved pane, 1.1 meters across, fused and pressure-tested to four times its working load. It is where the overview effect actually happens.

1.1 m pane · 4× proof load · UV graded

Safety record · cumulative

The numbers we are judged on, in full.

0

Flights flown

on APSIS-VII

0

Loss of crew

across the program

0 / 43

On-target splashdowns

inside the box

0

Independent life loops

either one suffices

Inside · the pressurized volume

Thirty-four cubic meters, arranged for the view.

Seats stow flat once on orbit. What looks tight on the pad opens into a cabin you float through, with the cupola as its center of gravity.

The APSIS-VII cabin interior with seats stowed flat for free flight.
Cabin, on orbitSEATS STOWED
Cutaway diagram of the APSIS-VII pressurized cabin volume.
Pressurized cutaway34 M³
APSIS-VII mated to the launch mount before a flight window.
On the mountPRE-FLIGHT
A crew member floating at the APSIS-VII cupola window above Earth.
At the cupolaTHE VIEW

APSIS-VII · ready on the manifest

See where itcan take you.

The vehicle is the easy part. The harder, better question is what you go up there to do, and which mission window fits.

Reserve a seatThe experience