West Virginia Bids to Host the U.S. Space Academy
West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey announced in Fairmont on October 7 that the state will formally bid to host the United States Space Academy. The academy was established by Executive Order 14423, signed on August 28, 2026, and NASA's Office of Strategic Infrastructure is selecting a site nationwide. The winning bid must break ground on a permanent campus by 2027, welcome a first class of 300 cadets in 2028, sit on at least 300 acres, grow to 1,200 cadets by 2031 and be expandable to about 4,000. Nearly all of the state's colleges and universities have joined a support network, and Marshall University and West Virginia University are jointly funding a resource center to prepare the application ahead of the October 26 deadline. The governor's office also says the state has announced roughly $96 billion in private investment and more than 19,000 expected jobs in under a year — about nine times the prior pace. For Chinese-American readers, a federal academy would anchor long-term research hiring and supplier demand; even if the bid fails, West Virginia has put itself on the national space-workforce map.
The state is spotlighting Fairmont in its bid: the city already hosts NASA's Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) Facility, an important federal installation that anchors the region's technology sector, surrounded by a cluster of aerospace and defense contractors. Marion County economic development officials welcomed the bid, calling it a continuation of years of work to build the area into a technology corridor.
(Source: Office of the Governor of West Virginia)
Source: Office of the Governor of West Virginia
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: Wikimedia Commons · The West Virginia State Capitol building - Dome.jpg · CC BY-SA 4.0
