Louisiana's congressional delegation is making a bipartisan push to bring the newly created United States Space Academy to southeast Louisiana, arguing that the New Orleans region already sits inside one of the country's most important aerospace corridors.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Sens. Bill Cassidy and John Kennedy, and Reps. Clay Higgins, Julia Letlow, Troy Carter and Cleo Fields signed a September 29 letter to the Presidential Commission on the United States Space Academy supporting a Louisiana location.
The pitch centers on NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, the nearby Stennis Space Center in Mississippi and Louisiana's growing commercial-space sector.
NASA Is Still Building the Academy
President Donald Trump established the United States Space Academy by executive order in August. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman chairs the presidential commission responsible for developing the academy.
NASA said September 10 that planning was already underway, including work on curriculum, facilities and partnerships. A permanent location has not been selected.
That distinction is important: Louisiana is competing for the academy, not announcing that it has won it.
What Louisiana Is Offering
The delegation's letter argues that Michoud provides a unique foundation. The more than 800-acre NASA facility has supported major American space programs from Apollo and the Space Shuttle to Artemis and construction of Space Launch System core stages.
Lawmakers also pointed to universities and colleges across the New Orleans region with programs in engineering, science, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, business and related fields.
The Louisiana proposal says the region could support groundbreaking for a permanent campus in 2027, host an initial class of roughly 300 students at an interim location by fall 2028 and ultimately accommodate at least 1,200 students at a permanent campus by fall 2031.
SpaceX Changes the Louisiana Argument
Louisiana's case is also different today than it would have been a year ago.
The state's emerging commercial-space activity in Acadiana gives Louisiana an additional argument that its aerospace footprint is no longer confined to legacy NASA facilities. The delegation described a broader space corridor connecting Michoud, Stennis and new commercial development in Louisiana.
Whether that is enough to win the academy remains unknown. Other states can make strong cases based on existing aerospace, military and university assets.
But the Louisiana effort is notable for its bipartisan support and for the way it links New Orleans' decades-old NASA infrastructure with the state's much newer commercial-space ambitions.
If the academy ultimately lands in Louisiana, it could create a permanent workforce and education institution connecting those two eras of the state's aerospace economy.
Source Notes
NASA, Sept. 10, 2026: https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-answers-presidents-call-to-establish-united-states-space-academy/
WBRZ, Sept. 29, 2026: https://www.wbrz.com/news/louisiana-congressional-leaders-pen-letter-pushing-to-bring-space-academy-to-the-bayou-state/
