Axiom Space is pursuing a False Claims Act lawsuit against Vast Space, accusing the California company of submitting a NASA mission-planning document that incorporated Axiom's proprietary work, Ars Technica reported¹.

The complaint was unsealed by a Nov. 4 order from U.S. District Judge Charles Eskridge, according to Ars Technica¹. Axiom, based in Houston, filed the case in Houston federal court on June 19 and is seeking civil penalties, treble damages, costs, and a statutory whistleblower award¹.

The dispute centers on NASA's Private Astronaut Missions program, which lets companies send crews of up to four people to the International Space Station and is treated as operational experience toward later commercial station work¹. Axiom organized the first four such missions and won a fifth in January; NASA awarded the sixth to Vast in February and the seventh to Voyager Technologies in April, Ars Technica reported¹.

Axiom says one contract deliverable is a Mission Integration and Operations Management Plan, and that NASA's acceptance of a similar document is tied to a Vast milestone payment¹. According to the complaint as described by Ars Technica, Vast submitted its plan before June 3, and NASA then told Axiom that its sensitive information had been included in Vast's deliverable¹.

Axiom alleges NASA found places where Vast's filing substituted "the PAM Provider" for Axiom's name and other places that still named Axiom, which Axiom says shows the text originated with Axiom¹. An Axiom spokesperson told Ars Technica, "Presenting another company's hard-won experience as its own does not meet that standard"¹.

A Vast spokesperson said NASA opened private astronaut missions to more than one provider because competition drives innovation, and that "Misusing litigation against a competitor works against all of that"¹. Vast said it would defend itself and that work on the sixth private astronaut mission was continuing without interruption¹.

The Justice Department declined to intervene on Oct. 23, court documents cited by Ars Technica show¹. Axiom said that decision does not mean the conduct was acceptable; Vast said the complaint does not describe fraud on the government and does not meet False Claims Act requirements¹. Ars Technica noted that a declination does not decide whether Vast used Axiom's materials¹.

NASA spokesman George Alderman told Ars Technica the agency is aware of the matter but does not comment on litigation¹. Final proposals for NASA's commercial space stations, which Ars Technica said could be worth billions of dollars in the 2030s, are due Dec. 14¹. How Vast obtained Axiom's planning document remains unanswered in the reporting¹.