NEW ORLEANS — Louisiana could be the home to a new national academy for the U.S. Space Force, NOLA.com reports.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order in August calling for the establishment of a space academy, similar to the existing military academies for the Army, Navy and Air Force. More recently, NASA invited interested states to begin applying to become the academy's home.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Republican from Metairie, is leading the effort with Gov. Jeff Landry's administration and GNO Inc., the regional economic development organization, to win the project for Louisiana, NOLA reports.

In a statement, New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno told NOLA that the opportunity to bring the space academy to New Orleans is “one of the most exciting yet.”

The academy would be the latest space-related development to come to Louisiana following last month's announcement of Starbase Louisiana, SpaceX's newest facility in Vermillion Parish. NASA's Stennis Space Center, the nation's largest rocklet propulsion test site, also sits on the Mississippi-Louisiana border.