NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee has entered the race to host the new U.S. Space Academy, with Gov. Bill Lee proposing to build the national training campus on industrial land in Coffee County.
Lee announced the bid Wednesday. The academy was created by a presidential executive order in August to prepare the next wave of astronauts, engineers, scientists, technicians and other space workers, and NASA is running the search for a home, according to the governor’s office.
The state’s pitch is built around the Coffee County Joint Industrial Park, part of a stretch of Middle Tennessee promoted as the Tennessee Valley Aerospace Corridor, a short distance from Arnold Air Force Base. State officials point to infrastructure already in place, land to grow and the short drive to the aerospace hub of Huntsville, Alabama. The proposal also leans on Tennessee schools that could feed and support the academy, naming Vanderbilt University, Tennessee Tech, Middle Tennessee State and the University of Tennessee Space Institute.
Lee said in his statement that he has long believed Tennessee should help shape what comes next. Deputy Gov. Stuart McWhorter, who also runs the Department of Economic and Community Development, framed the academy as a way to grow the state’s innovation economy and add jobs.
The bid has support from both U.S. senators, Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty, and from Reps. Scott DesJarlais and Matt Van Epps in the U.S. House. Blackburn cited Arnold Air Force Base and Oak Ridge National Laboratory as proof of the state’s long role in space and defense work.
Tennessee will not have the field to itself. Alabama, Ohio, Texas, Arizona and West Virginia are also competing for the campus. The state’s announcement did not include a timeline for NASA’s review or a final decision.
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