Orange County Florida – The Ideal Home For The New Space Force Academy – Armed Forces Press

Guest post by Chris Messina

It’s a short hop from Orlando to the most sophisticated human space launch center in the world, the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral. Orlando is the largest city in Orange County, Florida, but there are many others, both large and small. All have easy access to Orlando’s world class airport, the major roads crossing Florida (I-95, I-4 and the FL Turnpike, among others), developable land, and the deep water port at Cocoa.

A Space Tech ecosystem is growing across Orange County and Central Florida. It taps the engineering competencies native here, busily supporting NASA, SpaceX, Blue Origin, Lockheed Martin, and Boeing initiatives. At the University of Central Florida (UCF, colloquially called “Space U”), also located in Orange County, 70,000 bright young minds are eager for local careers. UCF’s Florida Space Institute currently employs nearly 100 of them in cutting-edge projects ranging from testing critical instrumentation in simulated space environments to optimizing rovers for the Moon, Mars, and Titan.

The only piece missing is a Space Force Academy. And Central Florida, specifically Orange County, is the right location for it. Orange County has the combined advantages of operational proximity, human capital, infrastructure, quality of life and available land.

Orange County has other advantages–political ones– if it has the leadership to use them properly. For starters, no major service academy is located in America’s Southern states. West Point is in New York, the Naval Academy is in Maryland, the Air Force Academy is in Colorado, and the Coast Guard Academy is in Connecticut. A second, substantial advantage is that President Trump, who initiated the Space Force, calls Florida home. A third is Space Florida, the state agency which recently worked with Senator Ashley Moody to pass the “Secure U.S. Leadership in Space Act” which facilitates spaceport development by allowing them to finance via tax-exempt bonds.

Finally, so many veterans call Florida home that it is one of the top three states in the entire US for military alumni. Orange County, home of the Naval Air Warfare Center Training System Division, is the epicenter of 21 Florida military bases, for example. These veterans are a ready source of support and wisdom for a fledgling Space Academy.

My vision for Orange County starts with economic diversification, based in large part on a vibrant SpaceTech ecosystem. Data from the Hudson Valley Economic Development Corporation and other sources show significant positive economic impact from a service academy. Estimates for 2025 range from $500 Million – $1 Billion in generated economic activity for each of the large service academies- the US Naval Academy, the Air Force Academy and West Point. Those estimates are likely low for a Space Force Academy, as they do not include the vast potential for technology transfer to industry
spin-offs.

Why the potential in tech transfer? Simple. This Academy would be unlike any other because its battlefield will use technology that’s still in the imagination phase, and if there’s one thing for which greater Orlando is famous, it’s imagination! That’s especially important in a new frontier that’s not merely an extension of air. The Space Force Academy and its graduates will attract and launch the businesses Orange County needs to become the Wall Street of the emerging space economy. Just as we are first in theme parks, we will become first in space, bringing tens of thousands of high-paying jobs to our
economy.

In addition, a Space Force Academy will help UCF attract even more top notch faculty, some of whom likely will hold dual appointments. By co-locating, both universities will feed each other, just as MIT and Harvard combine to make Cambridge dominant in Earth-based education.

Bringing the Space Force Academy to Florida, specifically Orange County, to complement “Space U” is the centerpiece of my economic development initiatives. I see the role of Orange County Mayor as both visionary (promoting this idea) and tactical (convening relevant parties). Please join me in making the Space Force Academy a reality!

Chris Messina (chrismessina.com) is a candidate for the Orange County Mayor Election of 8/18/26