The National Space Transportation Policy

National Security Presidential Memorandum 17 of August 20, 2026 The National Space Transportation Policy Memorandum for the Secretary of State[,] the Secretary of War[,] the Secretary of the Interior[,] the Secretary of Commerce[,] the Secretary of Transportation[,] the Secretary of Energy[,] the Secretary of Homeland Security[,] the Director of the Office of Management and Budget[,] the Director of National Intelligence[,] the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs[,] the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology[,] the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy[,] the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy[,] the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration[, and] the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, I hereby direct the following: Section 1 . National Space Transportation Goals. Access to, from, and within space is a vital national and economic security interest. American space transportation capabilities underpin the global economy, and commercial space innovation flourishes with affordable, reliable, and safe space transportation. The United States must establish and maintain space transportation capabilities that ensure access to the full range of orbital regimes relevant to United States interests, from suborbital and very-low Earth orbit altitudes to the lunar surface, Lagrange points, and deep space. By 2030, our space transportation ranges must grow to support more than 1,000 launches and reentries every year. The policies set forth in this memorandum will secure America's continued superiority in space. Sec. 2 . Space Launch and Reentry Infrastructure. (a) The Secretary of War and the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) shall operate Federal launch and reentry ranges and facilities in a transparent manner that accommodates government and non-government users. (b) The heads of relevant executive departments and agencies (agencies) shall, in consultation with State, local, tribal, territorial, and industry partners: (i) regularly consider and evaluate opportunities to improve launch and reentry infrastructure and access to infrastructure; (ii) incentivize co-development of launch and reentry infrastructure, including by facilitating leases, commercial investment, and public-private partnerships for capital improvements on Federal property; (iii) facilitate access to Federal launch and reentry sites for commercial users; (iv) expedite facility permitting and environmental reviews, consistent with Executive Order 14335 of August 13, 2025 (Enabling Competition in the Commercial Space Industry); and (v) develop fair and transparent cost recovery policies for common services, commodities, and infrastructure. (c) The Secretary of War and the Administrator of NASA shall prioritize and coordinate on infrastructure investments that optimize launch and reentry capacity, flexibility, agility, resilience, and economies of scale at Federal launch and reentry facilities and ranges. ( printed page 54930) (d) Within 180 days of the date of this memorandum, the Secretary of War, in coordination with the Administrator of NASA, the Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of Transportation, and the heads of other relevant agencies, shall develop and promulgate Federal range scheduling criteria to maximize efficient use of range resources for commercial users while ensuring United States Government needs are met. (e) The Secretary of War, in coordination with the Administrator of NASA and the heads of other relevant agencies, shall regularly publish range schedules to ensure transparent allocation of resources and optimize launch capacity. (f) Within 180 days of the date of this memorandum, the Secretary of Transportation, in coordination with the Secretary of War and the Administrator of NASA, shall: (i) identify, in consultation with the Secretary of Commerce, State and local officials, and other relevant stakeholders, potential locations for additional launch facilities and targeted development or improvement of launch infrastructure and report these findings to the President through the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology (APST); (ii) implement a plan to integrate space launch and reentry management into airspace and traffic control modernization efforts; and (iii) designate priority airspace for critical space launch corridors. (g) The Secretary of Commerce and the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, in coordination with the heads of relevant agencies, shall ensure reliable access to spectrum for commercial and Federal space launch, reentry, recovery, and on-orbit activities. Within 180 days of the date of this memorandum, and every 2 years thereafter, the Secretary of Commerce and the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission shall report to the President, through the APST and the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy (APEP), on their approach to ensuring reliable access to spectrum. (h) Within 180 days of the date of this memorandum, the Secretary of War and the Secretary of Homeland Security, in coordination with the Administrator of NASA, the Secretary of Transportation, and the heads of other relevant agencies, shall each report to the President through the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs (APNSA), the APST, the APEP, and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget on actions to secure United States space launch infrastructure on Federal real property, including any recommendations for additional policy direction, resources, or authorities required to secure United States space launch infrastructure. (i) Within 180 days of the date of this memorandum, the Secretary of War, in coordination with the Secretary of Transportation and the Administrator of NASA, shall evaluate the regulatory, programmatic, operational, and technological barriers for prompt, responsive, and resilient access to space, including the ability to accommodate accelerated timelines ( i.e., within 48 hours of need) and expeditionary locations, to support high-priority civil and national security space launch needs. (j) Within 90 days of the date of this memorandum, the Secretary of the Interior, in coordination with the Secretary of War, the Secretary of Transportation, and the heads of other relevant agencies, and in consultation with local and industry stakeholders, as appropriate, shall identify Federal lands to serve as an additional designated Federal land reentry site. (k) Within 180 days of the date of this memorandum, the Secretary of Transportation shall evaluate reentry safety criteria to support the development of the designated Federal land reentry site. (l) Within 240 days of the date of this memorandum, the Secretary of Commerce, in coordination with the heads of relevant agencies, shall produce a development plan for the designated Federal land reentry site that considers ( printed page 54931) commercial access, infrastructure, and co-development needs and opportunities. Sec. 3 . Space Transportation Industrial Base. Within 180 days of the date of this memorandum, the APST shall coordinate with the heads of relevant agencies to develop and implement a space transportation industrial base strategy that: (a) promotes and maintains a vibrant, competitive, and resilient space transportation industry to ensure continued leadership in space transportation capabilities and to enable American space superiority; (b) facilitates a United States space transportation industry with increased capability, affordability, security, and resilience to meet the needs of United States Government and non-government users; (c) strengthens and supports workforce development and retention programs, military service transition pathways, government-industry exchanges, and other talent pipelines to ensure the United States maintains a world-class space transportation workforce; and (d) is reviewed and updated, as appropriate, every 2 years. Sec. 4 . Space Transportation Market Access. Within 120 days of the date of this memorandum, and every 2 years thereafter, the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Commerce shall update, as appropriate and consistent with United States economic, foreign relations, nonproliferation, and national security interests: (a) export policies and programs, in coordination with the Administrator of NASA, the Secretary of War, and the Secretary of Transportation, to promote United States space transportation capabilities and standards abroad; protect United States intellectual property; and include industry advocacy, foreign sales, co-investment, co-development, market access, regulatory alignment, and technology protections; and (b) export controls, in coordination with the Secretary of War, to enable United States export opportunities for space transportation-related capabilities to allies and partners. Sec. 5 . International Collaboration. The APST and the APNSA shall coordinate with the heads of relevant agencies to review, on a case-by-case basis, requests to launch foreign space vehicles or permit reentry of foreign space vehicles in the United States for commercial purposes, and shall issue a recommendation to the President on such actions within 60 days of receipt of the necessary information from such agency officials. The APST and the APNSA shall consider the following in their recommendations: (a) consistency with United States foreign policy and national security interests, including international obligations and nonproliferation commitments; (b) effects on the overall health and competitiveness of the United States space industrial base; (c) verifiable foreign direct investment in United States space markets, where applicable and consistent with broader United States policy considerations and constraints, including for the advancement of national scientific, technological, industrial, and strategic space interests; (d) liability assumed and indemnification granted by the foreign entity for launch, reentry, and related activities in the event of claims involving the United States, United States persons, or United States entities; and (e) effects on Federal launch site infrastructure and availability for Federal launch users. Sec. 6 . United States Government Space Transportation. (a) The heads of relevant agencies shall ensure United States Government payloads are launched by or transported in space on vehicles manufactured in the United States, except for: (i) international programs with no-exchange-of-funds agreements, including launches of scientific instruments manifested on foreign spacecraft, or ( printed page 54932) other cooperative government-to-government agreements where launch services are provided by a foreign government; (ii) technology demonstrations or science payloads where the payload is a secondary mission, and no comparable United States launch service is available to meet mission needs; or (iii) hosted payload arrangements on spacecraft not owned by the United States. (b) The Secretary of War and the Administrator of NASA, as the launch agents for national security and civil space missions, respectively, shall, in consultation with the heads of relevant agencies: (i) assure reliable, affordable access to space transportation services that meet requirements for United States Government agencies; (ii) support the United States space transportation industrial base, in consultation with the Secretary of Commerce, to ensure a vibrant and dynamic competitive market, stabilize domestic supply chains, and maximize buying power and cost efficiencies for taxpayers; (iii) favor commercial space transportation services for meeting United States Government needs; (iv) refrain from conducting United States Government space transportation activities that preclude, discourage, or compete with United States commercial space transportation activities, unless required by public safety or national security; (v) ensure, to the maximum extent practicable and for all relevant key orbital regimes and payload classes, multiple avenues for reliably deploying United States Government payloads; (vi) coordinate space transportation acquisitions to maximize shared requirements and United States Government buying power; (vii) ensure consistency, to the maximum extent possible, in new entrant certification for United States Government launch requirements; (viii) develop launch concepts, techniques, and technologies for augmentation or rapid restoration of space capabilities during a time of crisis, conflict, or in the event of a launch system failure; (ix) provide and coordinate ridesharing and hosted payload opportunities to maximize launch and reentry resources for United States Government or partner missions, including for science and technology demonstrations, component risk reduction missions, and operational prototypes; (x) develop standardized, flexible, and adaptable interfaces between launch vehicles and spacecraft to enable remanifesting payloads on an operationally relevant timeframe, as appropriate; (xi) evaluate United States Government in-space transportation needs such as space weather awareness, debris removal, and on-orbit servicing; and (xii) facilitate United States commercial industry access, where appropriate, to flight data and lessons learned for spaceflight safety. (c) The Administrator of NASA, in consultation with the heads of other relevant agencies, shall: (i) develop a lunar logistics architecture that facilitates commercial transportation to and from the lunar surface; (ii) explore commercial robotic access to the surface of Mars; (iii) explore commercial architectures for sending humans to the surface of Mars and returning them to Earth; and (iv) ensure the availability of commercial crew and cargo services to the extent necessary to support United States Government needs. (d) The Secretary of War shall: (i) pursue in-space transportation services for existing and potential Department of War mission applications, such as on-orbit servicing and in- ( printed page 54933) space logistics, in coordination with the Administrator of NASA, as appropriate, to support the development of the in-space transportation industry; (ii) maximize infrastructure to enable diversity of transportation types, including spaceplanes; (iii) consider in-space transportation services when designing military architectures and force structures; and (iv) explore novel rapid, responsive, and resilient launch architectures, including relocatable equipment. Sec. 7 . Interagency Coordination. (a) Consistent with Executive Order 14369 of December 18, 2025 (Ensuring American Space Superiority), the APST shall coordinate interagency implementation of this policy. (b) The heads of relevant agencies may submit requests for waivers, deviations from, or exceptions to this policy to the President through the APST. Sec. 8 . Rescission. This memorandum supersedes Presidential Policy Directive 26 of November 21, 2013 (National Space Transportation Policy), which is hereby revoked. To the extent that this memorandum is inconsistent with any provision of any previous Presidential Memorandum or Space Policy Directive, this memorandum shall control. This memorandum waives Administration requirements of the Space Transportation Policy announced on December 21, 2004, in accordance with 51 U.S.C. 30703 , and replaces such guidance with direction within this memorandum. Sec. 9 . General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this memorandum shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect: (i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or (ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals. (b) This memorandum shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations. (c) This memorandum is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person. ( printed page 54934) (d) The Secretary of War is authorized and directed to publish this memorandum in the Federal Register . THE WHITE HOUSE, Washington, August 20, 2026 [ FR Doc. 2026-17372 Filed 8-24-26; 11:15 am] Billing code 6001-FR-P