Texas space leaders, with bipartisan backing, are campaigning to bring the Trump Administration's new Space Academy to the Lone Star State. If that happens, Texas taxpayers could pay for as much as $100 million of it.
In a September meeting of the Texas Space Commission (TSC), a state-level entity that awards contracts and grants to invest in Texas' space industry, the board hypothesized putting up a nine-figure sum as an incentive for Texas to be selected.
Three members of the TSC board — Nancy Currie-Gregg, Heather Wilson, and Evan Loomis — are also part of the state-appointed team tasked with drafting Texas' proposal for the Space Academy.
"I think it might be important for the Space Commission board to make very clear that we intend to support this in a significant way," Wilson, who’s also the president of the University of Texas at El Paso, said during the meeting. "And whether it's $100 million, or whatever set aside ... I think it sends a pretty clear message that Texas is in, and I don't think that's a bad thing."
The bidding process for the Space Academy has been largely kept under wraps. A spokesperson for the team drafting Texas’ proposal said it was "premature" to arrange interviews with members of the team until the proposal is finalized.
Representatives from the TSC did not immediately return a request for comment.
Though the conversation amongst TSC board members was non-binding, it does give insight into the push for Texas to host the Space Academy and that taxpayers may be on the hook for a portion of it. The $100 million figure could also be changed, though TSC board members have only suggested that figure.
"Is $100 million what we as a group believe actually gets it done?" Sassie Duggleby, another board member, said during the meeting. "Like, is that a big enough stake in the sand to say that we want this?"
"I think it's a good starting point," board member Brad Morrison replied. "And, again, I think what we're saying is we have this immediate opportunity in front of us to help our federal partners accomplish something that is history-making."
The Space Academy
It was in Houston that President Donald Trump announced his intention to create a new U.S. Space Academy (USSA). Texas lawmakers and space advocates watched as he signed an executive order to move forward with the academy.
"I know where some people want it, that are in this audience," Trump said at the Johnson Space Center. "Everybody wants it because it's the hot thing."
NASA unveiled its Request for Information process soon thereafter. Each state was allowed one submission, at the governor's behest. Texas leaders, under Gov. Greg Abbott's order, moved quickly. Abbott created a leadership team for the bid, led by Texas House Republican Greg Bonnen.
"No state can match what Texas brings to this mission," Abbott said in a press release. "NASA's Johnson Space Center, world-class universities, a premier commercial space industry, major military installations, and an unmatched aerospace workforce give Texas every asset the United States Space Academy requires."
Each state must submit its proposal by Nov. 16. From there, the presidential commission tasked with overseeing the process, which includes NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth among others, will make their recommendations to the president by Dec. 26.
NASA intends to break ground on a USSA facility no later than 2027, with instruction beginning in 2028 and a permanent campus opening in 2031. The inaugural class beginning in 2028 is expected to have approximately 300 students.
As part of the pitch from each state, NASA requires proposals to include plans for both interim instruction between 2028 and 2031, as well as the permanent campus plan from 2031 onward. The eventual campus must be at least 300 acres and have space for 4,000 students, according to the government's Request for Information form.
Each state is also tasked with estimating the costs of establishing the USSA, as well as partnerships at the local and state level that might offset costs from the federal government.
NASA is also requesting each state to offer information for proposed USSA sites in proximity to international airports, NASA facilities, other academic institutions that would support the USSA, and "industry hubs tied to space, aeronautics, science, engineering, technology, manufacturing, or research relevant to the Academy's mission."
The Lone Star State’s bid
A bipartisan coalition of Texas lawmakers at the federal and state level have pushed the Trump Administration to select Texas as the site of the USSA, potentially near Houston specifically. All but one of the entire Republican delegation of Texas, led by Senator Ted Cruz and House member Brian Babin, signed a letter saying, in part, "Texas has all the right stuff."
"The United States has already built a world-class space ecosystem in Texas," the letter reads. "Leveraging that ecosystem will allow the Space Academy to begin with capabilities that other locations would have to spend years developing."
Several Democrats, led by Congress member Christian Menefee, have similarly called for Texas' selection.
"Our state government has already put money behind this vision, appropriating hundreds of millions of dollars for a state Space Commission and for new research infrastructure," their letter reads. "Texas has shown that we put our money where our mouth is, and that support will only grow if the Academy calls Texas home."
The Texas Space Commission has indicated it wants to do exactly that. Though their Sept. 23 board meeting did not result in any official action — and its board members stressed that their discussion was non-binding — multiple board members indicated that a financial contribution would benefit the state's proposal.
When the Texas legislature created the TSC in 2023, one of the commission's main priorities was issuing grants under the Space Exploration and Aeronautics Research Fund, with a $150 million budget. TSC has since issued 24 grants totaling that amount to organizations like Blue Origin, Intuitive Machines, SpaceX, Rice University, and more. In the 2025 legislative session, Texas lawmakers gave the commission an additional $300 million to spend.
The details of the Space Academy proposal are under wraps. NASA stated earlier this month that it does not plan to publish all of the states' bids for the USSA, but that "information about the selected location, including portions of its submission, may be shared publicly."
Norman Garza, a representative for the team leading Texas' pitch, deferred to Abbott's initial press release announcing the team, noting that the process "is a competition amongst states."
"It would not be in the best interest of the State of Texas to unnecessarily disclose any potential elements of the proposal development process ... before the State's proposal approved by the Governor ... and submitted to NASA for consideration by the Presidential Commission making a recommendation to President Trump," Garza said in an email to Houston Public Media.
Texas is not alone in that competition. Governors and members of Congress from Florida, Ohio, West Virginia, Arizona, Alabama, and Louisiana have all publicly stated they have either begun work on a proposal or desire to do so.
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