posted 08-13-2025 07:32 PM               

Executive Order Signing to Boost U.S. Space Competitiveness

U.S. Transportation Secretary and acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy joined President Donald J. Trump at the White House Wednesday for the historic signing of the Executive Order (EO), "Enabling Competition in the Commercial Space Industry."

"People think the Department of Transportation (DOT) is just planes, trains, and automobiles – but we have a critical role to play in unlocking the final frontier. By slashing red tape tying up spaceport construction, streamlining launch licenses so they can occur at scale, and creating high-level space positions in government, we can unleash the next wave of innovation. At NASA, this means continuing to work with commercial space companies and improving our spaceports' ability to launch," said Duffy. "Thanks to the leadership of President Trump, we will enable American space competitiveness and superiority for decades to come. I look forward to leveraging my dual role at DOT and NASA to make this dream a reality."

The EO will enable a competitive launch marketplace and substantially increase commercial space launch cadence and novel space activities by 2030.

"The FAA strongly supports President Trump's Executive Order to make sure the U.S. leads the growing space economy and continues to lead the world in space transportation and innovation," said FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford. "This order safely removes regulatory barriers so that U.S. companies can dominate commercial space activities."

Executive Order highlights:

• The "Enabling Competition in the Commercial Space Industry" EO will help to:

• Streamline commercial license and permit approvals for United States-based operators. This includes eliminating regulatory barriers and expediting environmental reviews for commercial launches and reentries.

• Cut unnecessary red tape to make it easier to build new spaceports in the U.S. where more commercial space operations will be launched from. To ensure this Next Generation Spaceport Infrastructure, duplicate review process will be eliminated, and environmental reviews will be expedited.

• Promote new space activities like in-space manufacturing and orbital refueling through a streamlined framework. Expediting and streamlining authorization for this Novel Space Activity is essential to American space competitiveness and superiority.

• Establish a new position in the Office of the Secretary with the responsibility of advising the Secretary of Transportation on fostering innovation and deregulation in the commercial space industry.

• The FAA's associate administrator for Commercial Space Transportation also will be a senior executive non-career employee, and the Office of Space Commerce will be elevated into the Office of the Commerce Secretary.
  
  
• Mitigate the risk of the United States losing its competitive edge in the commercial space industry by dismantling regulatory barriers that prevent rapid innovation and expansion.