Tennessee bids for Space Academy site

Tennessee is competing to host a new federal training ground for future astronauts and engineers. Governor Bill Lee launched the state's bid on Wednesday for the United States Space Academy, a facility President Donald Trump outlined in August.

The proposed site is the Coffee County Joint Industrial Park outside Tullahoma. Lee said the location sits near Arnold Air Force Base and Huntsville, Alabama, which houses one of NASA's largest field centers. "It's also got plenty of room to expand, and it falls within the aerospace corridor that currently exists in our state," Lee said. "That corridor is uniquely positioned, and our state is uniquely positioned. We are innovatively leading in quantum and nuclear, and it makes a lot of sense for NASA to consider a location like Coffee County for the Space Center."

NASA is evaluating candidate locations. The agency has not announced a date for its final selection. West Virginia, Colorado, and Louisiana have also submitted bids.

Trump announced plans for the facility in August. He described its purpose as training the next generation of astronauts and engineers to "strengthen the Nation's space workforce by expanding opportunities to educate and develop the next generation of leaders across the space domain."