In a move he characterized as building on his far-reaching actions to promote U.S. space leadership in his first term, President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order (EO) on "Enabling Competition in the Commercial Space Industry" on Aug. 13, 2025. To advance American space leadership, the EO sets a goal of fostering competition and substantially increasing commercial space launch cadence and novel space activities by 2030 through a series of measures designed to streamline license and permit approvals.
The EO addresses four major areas: commercial launch and reentry, spaceport infrastructure, novel space activities, and regulatory leadership and accountability.
Commercial Launch and Reentry
The EO directs the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary, in consultation with the chair of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), to eliminate or expedite environmental reviews and other obstacles to launch and reentry licenses and permits. This explicitly includes certain exemptions from the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
The EO also directs the DOT Secretary to reevaluate and amend or rescind 14 CFR Part 450 of Federal Aviation Administration regulations, which is the current regulatory structure for licensing commercial launch and reentry. Intended to streamline launch and reentry in the era of reusable rockets, Part 450 is widely seen as having failed to meet its objective.
Spaceport Infrastructure
The EO directs the U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary, in consultation with the DOT Secretary, U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) Secretary and NASA administrator, to review states' compliance with the Coastal Zone Management Act and determine whether states are hampering spaceport development. It also requires them to notify the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) of any state or local limitations on spaceport development that are inconsistent with federal law. Additionally, the EO:
- directs the DOD Secretary, DOT Secretary and NASA administrator to align regulatory processes, eliminate duplicative processes and preserve federal launch capacity
- directs the DOD Secretary, U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary, DOT Secretary and NASA administrator to expedite a variety of environmental and administrative review processes and the CEQ chair to establish new categorical exclusions under NEPA for spaceport development
- directs the DOD Secretary, DOT Secretary and NASA administrator to consider whether to request exemptions set forth in the Endangered Species Act for spaceport development for national security reasons
Novel Space Activities
The EO steps back from a Biden Administration proposal for authorizing novel space activities and directs the Commerce Secretary to come up with a new proposal for expedited and streamlined authorizations for nonhuman spaceflight.
Regulatory Leadership and Accountability
The EO directs the DOT Secretary to establish an advisor within the office to foster innovation and deregulation in the commercial space transportation industry and the FAA administrator to appoint an associate administrator for Commercial Space Transportation, a position that was vacant when the EO was signed.
The EO also directs the Commerce Secretary to elevate the Office of Space Commerce into the Commerce Department.
Conclusion
Though environmental groups and some state and local governments may oppose some provisions of the EO and challenge some of the resulting actions in court, it was immediately hailed by the commercial space industry as an important and necessary step to enhance U.S. commercial space capabilities.
