Colorado Governor Jared Polis announced the bid on Thursday, October 23, at America the Beautiful Park in Colorado Springs, alongside Mayor Yemi Mobolade and university and business leaders, The Monument Independent reported. Colorado has not yet said where in the Colorado Springs area the academy would be built or what land or money the state would put toward it; Polis said both would be in the proposal, and he expected Colorado to be among the three or four states on the short list.

Source: The Monument Independent

The academy itself does not exist yet. Trump signed Executive Order 14423 on August 28, which sets up a presidential commission chaired by NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman to work out how a NASA-led federal academy would be governed, what it would teach, who could apply and how its permanent home would be chosen. NASA describes the proposed school as a civilian federal academic institution to prepare scientists, engineers, astronauts, pilots, entrepreneurs and civil servants.

300+acres NASA requires for the campus
300first students, in 2028
1,200students by fall 2031
~4,000eventual capacity

Under NASA's request, about 300 students would begin in 2028 at partner institutions before the academy has a campus of its own. University of Colorado President Todd Saliman said the University of Colorado Colorado Springs would be the temporary home, hosting instruction, housing and student life for those first 300 students. The permanent campus needs at least 300 acres, with a groundbreaking no later than 2027 and room for 1,200 undergraduates by fall 2031, growing to about 4,000.

Source: Colorado Space Coalition / Denver Metro Chamber

The state's response is being prepared by the Colorado Space Coalition, which the Polis administration designated as the responding entity; it is co-chaired by Lieutenant Governor Dianne Primavera and Ronald Sega, with the state's public universities and community colleges, the City of Colorado Springs, El Paso County and the Colorado Springs Chamber & EDC among the partners. Texas, Florida, Ohio, Alabama, West Virginia, Arizona and Louisiana have also said publicly they are preparing proposals or want the academy. The bid also follows the Trump administration's September 2025 decision to move U.S. Space Command headquarters from Colorado Springs to Huntsville, Alabama, which Colorado's attorney general has challenged in court.

The plan has critics. Senator John Hickenlooper, a Colorado Democrat, called it "duplicative, costly, and unserious" when it was announced, pointing to the existing Air Force Academy north of Colorado Springs; Polis said the two are "completely different" because the Space Academy is not officer training for one branch. The executive order carries no money of its own and says the work is subject to appropriations, so putting the plan into effect may require Congress. In Texas, members of the Texas Space Commission board discussed offering up to $100 million (yaani about 10 crore dollars) at a September 23 meeting, a discussion that was not binding. Colorado's response is due at 4 p.m. Mountain time on November 16; NASA has said no date has been set for choosing the site.