Ohio is bidding for the US Space Academy. Washington is still deciding how the school will work

CLEVELAND, Ohio (Tribune News Service) — Ohio is mounting a campaign to bring the U.S. Space Academy to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, even as the federal government works through key decisions about what kind of school it would be and how it would operate.

President Donald Trump’s Aug. 28 executive order established a presidential commission to develop the academy. The order describes it as a “proposed NASA-led Federal academy” combining technical education, leadership development and public service. The White House says it would prepare graduates for military, civilian and broader space-sector careers.

But several basic pieces are still undecided. The commission must recommend how the academy would be governed, what degrees it would offer, who could attend, what service graduates would owe the government and what legal authority or legislation would be needed to establish it.

The commission also must recommend a process for choosing a permanent location. Its report is due to Trump by Dec. 26.

Those unresolved details haven’t stopped Ohio from preparing its bid.

Gov. Mike DeWine has assembled a steering group to prepare Ohio’s submission, while members of the state’s congressional delegation have promoted Wright- Patterson as a potential location.

Ohio faces a nearer deadline first. NASA is accepting one site proposal from each state through its governor or a designee, with submissions due by 6 p.m. EDT Oct. 26.

DeWine has pointed to Wright- Patterson and NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland as major pieces of Ohio’s case.

Wright- Patterson houses Air Force Research Laboratory headquarters and the National Space Intelligence Center. NASA Glenn’s facilities include its Cleveland campus and the Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky, home to major facilities used to test spacecraft and aerospace technology.

The federal site-selection process is already underway.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman chaired the presidential commission’s first meeting Sept. 9. The next day, NASA asked states to submit potential locations.

NASA’s current schedule calls for a groundbreaking by 2027, the first 300 students at a temporary location in 2028 and a permanent campus operating by 2031.

Some of the issues facing the commission have come up before when the federal government created a new academy.

A Congressional Research Service analysis published Monday notes that proposals for an Air Force academy began soon after the Air Force was created in 1947. Executive-branch reviews considered curriculum, governance, location, costs and how a new academy would fit alongside existing officer-training programs.

Those reviews and congressional debate continued until President Dwight Eisenhower signed legislation establishing the Air Force Academy in 1954. The Space Academy could follow a different process. The comparison shows that many of the institutional decisions now before the commission also came up during creation of the Air Force Academy, the most recently established U.S. service academy.

There also is already a pipeline for Space Force officers through an existing academy. The U.S. Air Force Academy says 93 members of its 2026 graduating class were commissioned into the Space Force.

The Congressional Research Service said Congress may have to consider whether a separate academy is the best way to meet federal space-workforce needs, which agency should lead it, whether existing programs could meet some of those needs and how much a new academy would cost.

Congress also could shape the academy more directly.

Sen. Ashley Moody, R- Fla., introduced S. 5398 on Sept. 15, and Rep. Byron Donalds, R- Fla., introduced H.R. 10430 the following day. Both measures would establish the U.S. Space Academy as a federal service academy and require it to be located in Florida.

The Senate bill was referred to the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. The House measure was referred to the Science, Space and Technology Committee. Neither has advanced beyond its initial committee referral.

Trump’s executive order anticipates a congressional role. The commission must identify legislation needed to carry out its recommendations, and NASA would implement recommendations approved by the president only after any necessary congressional action and subject to available funding.

Ohio’s immediate task is its Oct. 26 site proposal.

Two months later, the commission is due to recommend what the academy would teach, who could attend, what obligations graduates would have, how the school would be governed and what Congress would need to do to turn the proposal into an operating federal institution.

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