Hobbs taps space experts to land Trump-ordered NASA training academy in Arizona
Arizona wants to be home to a new NASA training academy focused on space, and the governor has appointed 13 state leaders to make the case.
Gov. Katie Hobbs created the Arizona U.S. Space Academy Steering Committee last week to build the state’s application.
The academy was called for in an executive order signed by President Donald Trump on Aug. 28.
Members include former NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Director Laurie Leshin, former Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett, and Dr. Erika Hamden, director of the University of Arizona Space Institute.
Hamden said NASA is seeking proposals for an academy similar in concept to the military academies, but centered on space.
“It would be for civilians, and the idea is to have a focus, an emphasis on a really space expertise workforce,” Hamden said.
She said Arizona’s space credentials are strong but not widely known.
“We are a space state, but most other places don’t know that,” Hamden said. “We built the biggest mirrors on Earth here, and we’ve built instruments on NASA’s flagships.”
Steven Zylstra, president and CEO of the Arizona Technology Council, pointed to the state’s history with the space program.
“I think it’s our pedigree,” Zylstra said. “Arizona goes back to the Apollo mission. All the astronauts were trained right here in Arizona. We just have the pedigree to make a really great case.”
NASA also used Arizona to rehearse future missions. In 2011, the agency practiced missions to an asteroid at the Black Point lava flow north of Flagstaff, where 12News journalist Trisha Hendricks rode along in a NASA rover.
State leaders say the pitch will rest on that mission experience, a major aerospace industry, schools that train the workforce and room to build.
The proposal is due in mid-November, which leaves little time.
“It’s kind of crazy, very ambitious,” Hamden said. “The time is short, but we’ll put something awesome together.”
Asked about the challenge, she added: “If it wasn’t hard, it would not be interesting.”
The committee will keep shaping Arizona’s proposal in the coming weeks.