Trump Issues National Space Transportation Policy Aiming for 1,000+ U.S. Launches a Year by 2030

President Donald Trump on Thursday issued a new national space transportation policy that sets an aggressive federal target: U.S. launch and reentry infrastructure must be able to support more than 1,000 launches and reentries a year by 2030.

The White House published the presidential memorandum, titled “The National Space Transportation Policy,” on its Presidential Actions page as NSPM-17 and signed by Trump on Aug. 20, 2026. The memo says, “By 2030, our space transportation ranges must grow to support more than 1,000 launches and reentries every year.”

That goal is far above recent U.S. launch activity and underscores that the order is aimed at infrastructure and regulation, not just rhetoric. The United States conducted about 145 orbital launches in 2024, according to launch tracking cited by Aviation Week. Totals rose again in 2025, but still remained in the low hundreds depending on how launches are counted. The gap helps explain the memo’s focus on federal ranges, airspace, reentry sites and permitting.

A central piece of the order is a deadline-driven push to make federal launch and reentry ranges easier to use. The memo directs the defense secretary, working with NASA and other agencies, to develop federal range scheduling criteria within 180 days, or by Feb. 16, 2027. It also requires the Pentagon and NASA to operate those ranges more transparently and to “regularly publish range schedules,” a step intended to give commercial users more visibility into access and timing.

The Transportation Department, which oversees commercial launch licensing through the Federal Aviation Administration, also gets a 180-day deadline ending Feb. 16, 2027. Under the memo, Transportation Secretary must identify potential locations for additional launch facilities, fold launch management into broader airspace and traffic-control modernization, and designate priority airspace for critical launch corridors. Those provisions target a growing bottleneck as more launches compete with civilian aviation for access to the same skies.

Reentry capacity — the infrastructure and rules for spacecraft returning to Earth — is another major focus. The memo gives Interior Secretary 90 days, or until Nov. 18, 2026, to identify federal lands for an additional designated federal land reentry site, working with other agencies and consulting local and industry stakeholders. The transportation secretary then must evaluate reentry safety criteria within 180 days, while the Commerce Department has 240 days, or until April 17, 2027, to produce a development plan for that site.

Beyond launch pads and airspace, the order reaches into industrial policy and national security. It directs the assistant to the president for science and technology to coordinate an interagency space transportation industrial base strategy within 180 days, with updates every two years. The State and Commerce departments must update export policies and export controls related to space transportation within 120 days, or by Dec. 18, 2026, and revisit them every two years after that. The memo says the goal is to promote U.S. capabilities abroad while protecting U.S. interests.

The policy also creates a new timetable for handling foreign launch and reentry requests. It says the White House science adviser and national security adviser will coordinate interagency reviews and send a recommendation to the president within 60 days after receiving the necessary agency information on requests to launch or reenter foreign space vehicles in the United States. It also says U.S. government payloads should be launched on vehicles manufactured in the United States, with limited exceptions.

The memorandum says agencies should expedite facility permitting and environmental reviews in line with Executive Order 14335, issued in August 2025, which sought to increase commercial launch competition and cadence. It also formally replaces the previous national policy in this area. “This memorandum supersedes Presidential Policy Directive 26 of November 21, 2013 (National Space Transportation Policy), which is hereby revoked,” it says. That makes the new order not just an endorsement of commercial space growth, but a concrete federal buildout plan with deadlines starting this fall.