Thales Alenia Space

Recognized under Tier 3 — Structural Habitats, Thales Alenia Space is the Italian-French manufacturer behind more pressurized space station volume than any other company, having built the majority of the ISS's pressurized modules, including Node 2, Node 3, and the Cupola. The company holds a roughly €296 million ESA contract to build the ESPRIT module for NASA's lunar Gateway, combining the Halo Lunar Communication System and a refueling element, and serves as prime contractor for ESA's Lunar I-Hab habitation module, for which Redwire is supplying docking mechanisms. Thales Alenia was also selected by the UAE to build Gateway's airlock module, with that agreement signed in February 2025. Its decades of pressurized-module manufacturing experience — from LEO to lunar orbit — give it a structural design and manufacturing track record directly transferable to habitats intended for cislunar or Mars-bound deep space missions.