Tennessee Bids for US Space Academy Campus in Tullahoma

Tennessee will bid to host the United States Space Academy, Governor Bill Lee announced on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, proposing a site in Coffee County for a new campus created to train the next generation of the American space workforce.

The academy was established by President Donald Trump to strengthen the United States space workforce and to train astronauts, engineers, scientists, technicians and operators. NASA leads the process to evaluate potential locations, and states are now competing to land the campus and the students, jobs and research activity that would come with it.

Lee made the case for Tennessee in direct terms.

"Someone has to determine what the future looks like, and I've long believed that should be Tennessee," Lee said.

He also told reporters the corridor and the state are uniquely positioned for the academy, citing strength in quantum and nuclear work.

The proposed site in Coffee County

Tennessee proposes a site in Coffee County. The governor's release describes it as the Middle Tennessee I-24 Industrial site. The Tennessean identifies the location as the Coffee County Joint Industrial Park in Tullahoma.

The location sits minutes from Arnold Air Force Base and close to Huntsville, Alabama. That geography is central to the state pitch. Arnold Air Force Base gives the proposal an established federal testing and research presence nearby, while Huntsville gives the site a link to one of the best known space and defense corridors in the country.

The network behind the bid

The supporting network in the state pitch includes Arnold Air Force Base, the University of Tennessee, Middle Tennessee State University, Tennessee Tech University and Vanderbilt University.

Together, those institutions cover research, engineering, technical training and higher education across the state. The pitch relies on that spread. A space academy would need university partners for science and engineering, technical pathways for operators and technicians, and a base community that understands federal research work.

Lee's argument is that Tennessee already has those pieces in place, and that the academy would connect them around a single campus with a national mission.

Timeline for a decision and a campus

Governors have until November 16 to submit proposals, according to reporting by Knox News on NASA's request for information. NASA expects groundbreaking in 2027, a first class of about 300 students in 2028, and a permanent campus operating by 2031.

Those dates give the competition a fast start. States have only weeks to finish their proposals, and the winning state would move quickly from a bid to construction and then to a first class within about two years of groundbreaking.

Backing from Tennessee lawmakers

United States Senators Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty backed the bid, along with Representatives Scott DesJarlais and Matt Van Epps, according to reporting on the governor's release.

NASA now has to evaluate the competing locations. Tennessee's answer is a Coffee County site, a nearby air force base, four named university partners, and a claim that the state should help decide what the future of the American space workforce looks like.