Washington, United States: US President Donald Trump on August 20, 2026, signed a National Security Presidential Memorandum establishing an updated “National Space Transportation Policy” that aims to enable more than 1,000 launches and reentries from American soil every year by 2030. The policy replaces the previous National Space Transportation Policy issued under Presidential Policy Directive 26 on November 21, 2013. The US Office of Space Commerce published details of the updated policy on August 20.
The memorandum describes access to, from and within space as a “vital national and economic security interest” and says US space transportation capabilities underpin the global economy. It states that commercial space innovation depends on “affordable, reliable, and safe space transportation” and calls for US capabilities spanning suborbital and very-low Earth orbit, the lunar surface, Lagrange points and deep space. The document says, “By 2030, our space transportation ranges must grow to support more than 1,000 launches and reentries every year.”
The scale of the target represents a major increase from recent US launch activity. Reuters reported that the United States recorded 178 launches in 2025, a figure already about 10 times higher than in 2013. Elon Musk’s SpaceX accounted for the overwhelming majority of those launches. The policy therefore seeks to build on the rapid growth of the commercial launch sector while expanding infrastructure and access for additional operators.
The White House is pursuing the target through a strongly commercial-focused model. Federal agencies are directed to encourage the co-development of launch and reentry infrastructure with private-sector partners, including leases, commercial investment and public-private partnerships for capital improvements on federal property. Agencies are also instructed to facilitate commercial access to federal launch and reentry facilities, accelerate facility permitting and environmental reviews, and establish fair and transparent cost-recovery policies for common services, commodities and infrastructure.
The policy also seeks to improve how existing federal launch ranges are used. The Secretary of War and NASA administrator must coordinate infrastructure investments to improve launch and reentry capacity, flexibility, agility, resilience and economies of scale. Within 180 days, they must establish federal range-scheduling criteria designed to maximize efficient use of range resources for commercial users while maintaining US government requirements. Range schedules are also to be regularly published to provide transparent allocation of launch resources.
The Department of Transportation has been given a major role in expanding launch capacity. Within 180 days, the Transportation Secretary, working with the Secretary of War, NASA and other agencies, must identify potential locations for additional launch facilities and targeted infrastructure improvements. The department must also integrate space-launch and reentry management into airspace and traffic-control modernization and designate priority airspace for critical launch corridors.
Spectrum is another key part of the expansion. The Commerce Secretary and Federal Communications Commission chairman are directed to ensure reliable access to spectrum for commercial and federal launch, reentry, recovery and on-orbit activities. They must report to the President within 180 days on their approach to securing that access and repeat the report every two years.
The memorandum also places a new emphasis on the security of launch infrastructure located on federal property. The Secretary of War and Secretary of Homeland Security must report within 180 days on actions needed to secure such infrastructure and identify any additional policy direction, resources or authorities required. The Secretary of War, Transportation Secretary and NASA administrator must separately assess regulatory, operational, programmatic and technological barriers to rapid and resilient access to space, including the ability to respond within 48 hours when required and to operate from expeditionary locations.
A new federal land reentry site is also part of the plan. Within 90 days, the Interior Secretary must identify federal land for an additional designated federal reentry site. Within 180 days, the Transportation Secretary must evaluate reentry safety criteria for the site, while the Commerce Secretary has 240 days to produce a development plan covering commercial access, infrastructure and opportunities for co-development.
The policy sets out a broader industrial strategy as well. Within 180 days, the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology must coordinate development of a space transportation industrial-base strategy intended to maintain a “vibrant, competitive, and resilient space transportation industry.” The strategy is also expected to increase capability, affordability, security and resilience while strengthening workforce development, retention programs, military-to-civilian transition pathways, government-industry exchanges and other talent pipelines. It is to be reviewed and updated every two years as appropriate.
Washington also plans to expand international market access for US space transportation companies. Within 120 days, and every two years thereafter, the Secretaries of State and Commerce must update export policies and programs to promote US space transportation capabilities and standards abroad, protect intellectual property and support industry advocacy, foreign sales, co-investment, co-development, market access, regulatory alignment and technology protections. Export controls are also to be updated to enable opportunities for US space transportation-related capabilities with allies and partners.
Foreign commercial launch and reentry operations in the United States will be considered on a case-by-case basis. The Assistant to the President for Science and Technology and the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs must coordinate reviews and make recommendations to the President within 60 days of receiving the necessary information. Those reviews will consider US foreign-policy and national-security interests, international obligations, nonproliferation commitments, the health and competitiveness of the US space industrial base, foreign investment, liability and indemnification, and the impact on federal launch-site infrastructure and availability.
The memorandum also gives preference to US-built launch vehicles for government missions. Federal agencies must ensure US government payloads are launched or transported in space on vehicles manufactured in the United States, with exceptions for certain international programs, secondary science or technology missions where no comparable US launch service exists, and hosted payload arrangements on spacecraft not owned by the United States.
For government missions, the Secretary of War and NASA administrator are directed to favor commercial space transportation services. They must ensure reliable and affordable access, strengthen domestic supply chains, maximize government buying power, maintain multiple deployment options across orbital regimes and payload classes, and support consistent certification of new launch providers. The policy also calls for technologies that could rapidly restore space capabilities during crises, conflicts or launch-system failures.
The government will also promote ridesharing and hosted payloads, standardized interfaces between launch vehicles and spacecraft, and faster payload remanifesting where appropriate. Agencies are instructed to assess government needs for in-space transportation, including space-weather awareness, debris removal and on-orbit servicing, while making flight data and safety lessons available to US commercial industry where appropriate.
NASA’s role extends beyond launch infrastructure. The agency is directed to develop a lunar logistics architecture supporting commercial transportation to and from the lunar surface, explore commercial robotic missions to Mars, examine commercial architectures for sending humans to Mars and returning them to Earth, and ensure commercial crew and cargo services are available when needed for US government missions.
The Department of War is separately directed to pursue in-space transportation services for missions such as on-orbit servicing and in-space logistics, maximize infrastructure supporting different transportation types including spaceplanes, incorporate in-space transportation into military architectures and force structures, and explore rapid, responsive and resilient launch architectures, including relocatable equipment.
The policy is therefore broader than a simple increase in rocket launches. It explicitly expands the concept of space transportation to include launch, reentry and in-space operations, with the administration linking the expansion to national security, commercial growth and future lunar and Martian activity. The White House says increased space transportation capacity could support military readiness, satellite communications, navigation and timing, weather forecasting, airline safety, broadband connectivity and advanced in-space manufacturing and transportation.
White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Michael Kratsios described the policy as one that “meets this moment of explosive growth and positions America to lead the next era of space.” He said US launches had risen 10-fold from 19 successful orbital launches in 2013 to 178 in 2025, adding that much of the country’s launch infrastructure dates to the 1960s. Kratsios said the policy would support commercial co-investment in next-generation launch and reentry sites and establish an additional federal land reentry site.
Kratsios also described the strategy as a “commercial-first approach enabling Americans on the Moon by 2028 and initial Moon Base elements by 2030, and rapid, resilient launch capabilities for national security.” The policy itself directs NASA to develop the commercial lunar logistics architecture and investigate commercial Mars transportation options.
The White House fact sheet characterizes the policy as an “America First” approach aimed at providing reliable, affordable and modernized access to space while creating a “vibrant, competitive, and resilient US space transportation industrial base.” It says the expansion is intended to strengthen national and economic security, create high-paying aerospace manufacturing jobs, reduce the cost of developing and deploying new space systems and open opportunities in areas such as in-space manufacturing, transportation and advanced materials.
The administration is also directing government agencies not to conduct space transportation activities that “preclude, discourage, or compete with United States commercial space transportation activities, unless required by public safety or national security.” This provision places commercial providers at the center of the government’s future space transportation model.
The new policy comes as SpaceX continues to dominate US launch activity. Reuters reported that SpaceX conducted 170 launches in 2025 and deployed about 2,500 satellites. The company has separately pursued ambitions for a far higher launch cadence, with Musk saying SpaceX is aiming for more than 30 Starship launches per day by 2030, equivalent to roughly 10,000 launches annually. That figure is a SpaceX target and should not be confused with the US government’s 1,000-launch-and-reentry goal.
The memorandum also connects the launch expansion to Trump’s broader lunar and Mars ambitions. The White House says the policy will support a commercial transportation ecosystem for the Moon, while NASA is tasked with exploring commercial robotic and human transportation architectures for Mars. The policy therefore combines near-term infrastructure and regulatory changes with longer-term objectives for sustained US activity beyond low Earth orbit.
The updated policy formally supersedes Presidential Policy Directive 26 of November 21, 2013, and revokes it. It also replaces related administration guidance issued in 2004, subject to applicable law and available appropriations. The memorandum states that it does not create enforceable rights or benefits and directs the Secretary of War to publish it in the Federal Register.
The central challenge now is implementation. Reaching more than 1,000 launches and reentries annually in just over three years will require significantly greater range capacity, additional launch and reentry infrastructure, streamlined approvals, expanded airspace and spectrum access, a larger industrial workforce and greater participation from commercial operators.
