By Polly Ticks · August 21, 2026President Donald Trump signed a memorandum on August 20 directing federal agencies to support an expansion of U.S. commercial space launches and reentries. Reuters reported that the memorandum sets a goal of at least 1,000 launches and reentries a year by 2030. Reuters said the United States recorded 178 such operations in the prior year.
The memorandum directs agencies to identify possible launch and reentry sites on federal land, address airspace and wireless-spectrum availability, and streamline permitting and environmental reviews. It also calls for a commercial-first approach and says agencies should avoid activities that compete with or hinder commercial space operations unless required for safety or national security.
The FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation licenses U.S. commercial launches and reentries, including operations abroad. The FAA says its work is intended to protect public safety, property, and national-security interests; its site also identifies airspace integration, environmental work, vehicle-operator licensing, and spaceports as parts of that system.
The memorandum does not itself issue launch licenses, designate a new federal spaceport, or approve a particular company’s project. Those actions remain subject to the applicable agency processes. Reuters also reported that the memorandum links the broader commercial-space push to a goal of returning astronauts to the Moon by 2028 and beginning a lunar base by 2030.
The FAA says it reached its 1,000th licensed or permitted commercial-space operation on August 14, 2025. The agency traces commercial space transportation to the 1990s, when launches were primarily used for commercial satellites and cargo trips to the International Space Station. It says the expanding industry now also includes research transportation and space tourism.
The FAA’s description of its work includes inspecting reusable and expendable launch vehicles, assessing aerospace vehicle systems, developing public-safety standards and requirements, assuring engineering quality, and assessing environmental impacts. Those activities remain part of the federal system even when the memorandum calls for faster coordination and review.
Reuters reported that the memorandum also asks agencies to avoid activity that competes with or hinders commercial space ventures unless safety or national-security needs require it. The document’s 2030 target concerns launches and reentries together; it is not a count of rockets alone, and the reported 178-operation comparison likewise covers both types of activity.
The FAA’s spaceports map includes commercial, government, and active private sites around the country. Its commercial-space office describes more than 35 years of work regulating launch and reentry activity, making site capacity and licensing separate measurable parts of the memorandum’s stated expansion effort.