We don't wait for students to find aerospace. We bring it to them.

Texas is building the space economy. SWIFT builds the workforce to power it — removing every barrier between an ambitious student and a career among the stars.

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The Moment

Texas is at the center of the space economy boom.

But the workforce to support it doesn't exist yet — at scale.

Aerospace companies operating in Texas today

Source: Texas 2036

Of aerospace firms struggle to hire engineering talent

Source: AIA / McKinsey 2025

1 in 0

Texas high school graduates earn a postsecondary credential within 6 years

Source: Texas 2036

SWIFT was founded to close this gap — at scale, across every corner of Texas.

Research & Policy

We didn't guess. We did the work.

SWIFT turns real hiring data into policy. The Jobs Report measured what the space economy needs. The Space Cowboy Initiative shows how to build it.

PolicyNew

The Space Cowboy Initiative

October 2026 · 48 pages · Dr. Leon Vanstone & James Peterson

SWIFT's roadmap for building the skilled-trades workforce of the space economy — the welders, technicians, and operators who build the hardware. Where the trained hands are, the contracts and factories follow.

A roadmap any state can use to build its space workforce
Skills profiles for every role, built from 5,000 real job postings
Curriculum alignment and hiring connections for any district, college, or employer

Download the initiative (PDF)

Report

The Space Economy Jobs Report

October 2025 · 19 pages · Dr. Leon Vanstone & James Peterson

A bottom-up analysis of thousands of real job postings, translated into clear hiring signals for schools, employers, and policymakers.

100,000 new Texas space jobs projected over the next decade
47% of openings require only a high-school diploma
Nearly 1 in 8 listings is for a welder

Download the report (PDF)

Explore The Signal — all our data & policy

The Problem

Three gaps are limiting the Texas space workforce pipeline.

Access Gap

Students in underserved communities and rural areas have zero exposure to hands-on aerospace and rocketry during the K–12 years when career trajectories are shaped.

Credential Gap

Community colleges and early college programs lack the lab infrastructure to deliver the hands-on training space and defense employers actually require for hiring.

Pipeline Gap

Returning veterans and career changers seeking to enter the space economy have no structured, credentialed pathway to do so.

HICAM hosts the SWIFT Rocket Lab maker space

Austin Community College team with their first liquid bi-propellant engine

The Austin Community College team exhibiting their first liquid bi-propellant engine sponsored by SWIFT

Where Students Build

SWIFT Rocket Lab at HICAM

Hayes Innovation Center for Advanced Manufacturing · Austin, Texas

Students Build Liquid Rockets

Real propulsion. Real hardware. Students design, build, and test liquid rockets in a professional-grade facility alongside aerospace mentors.

Credentialed Program Development

Stackable credentials recognized by Texas aerospace and defense employers — from entry-level to advanced tracks.

Year-Round Operations

Capacity for multiple concurrent cohorts serving high school, community college, veteran, and career-changer populations.

Employer Connections

Direct pipeline to aerospace and defense hiring partners — SWIFT's built-in workforce delivery network.

Now operational

Who We Serve

Unlocking underserved and untapped talent.

High School Students

Early career exposure, CTE outreach, and rocketry workshops brought directly to schools.

Community College Students

Hands-on lab access, stackable credentials, and direct employer connections.

Returning Veterans

Structured re-entry pathways into aerospace and defense that leverage prior technical training.

Career Changers

A credentialed pathway into the space economy for motivated adults ready for a new direction.

Traction & Credibility

Operational, connected, and ready to scale.

PVAMU Space Hub Partnership

An active institutional partnership with Prairie View A&M — SWIFT's first formal university-credentialing collaboration, anchored by a $2M student space lab.

SXSW Space House 2026

Geoff Tudor moderated 'The Space Cowboy: A New Industrial Workforce' — a national platform for SWIFT's mission alongside leaders from across the industry.

Rocket Lab Sponsorships

Sponsoring student rocket labs statewide — including the first liquid bipropellant rocket built at a Texas community college (Austin Community College), and programs at UTPB, Rice, and Texas A&M.

Space Workforce Partnerships

SWIFT convenes Texas's top space employers alongside leading ISD CTE programs and community colleges — building dual-credit pathways that put students on a direct track into the space industry.

SWIFT in action

From launch sites to community colleges, SWIFT is already in the field across Texas.

Team & Advisors

Led by mission-proven aerospace leadership.

Geoff Tudor

President, Board Member

Space policy veteran. Congressional sponsor of Clementine — which found ice on the Moon — and DC-X, the rocket that invented vertical landing. Wrote commercial space legislation. Patent holder in the architecture powering today's mega-constellations. Now building the workforce Texas needs to lead the next space age.

Dr. Leon Vanstone

Vice President, Board Member

Founding Director of the Texas Rocket Engineering Lab (TREL). Rocket scientist and hypersonics expert — and the man behind over 100 student careers launched into aerospace. One of his students won the Collier Trophy for work on Firefly's Blue Ghost lunar lander. Leon doesn't just teach the frontier — he sends students there.

Sandy Barker

Technical Operations Advisor

Trained astronauts at NASA. Early employee at Firefly Aerospace. Former Director of TREL. Sandy's superpower: turning students into teams that build and launch high-power liquid rockets — safely, legally, and to ITAR standard.

Joseph Kopser

Board Member, Defense & Innovation

West Point graduate. Army Ranger. Bronze Star recipient. Harvard Kennedy School. Co-founded RideScout, acquired by Mercedes-Benz. White House Champion of Change. President of Grayline. Joseph opens the doors inside DoD's defense and advanced technology units that most organizations never get to knock on.

Heather Wagner Reed

Board Member, Media & Communications

Founder & CEO of Juice Consulting, one of Texas's leading media and communications firms. An award-winning strategist who has built brands, shaped narratives, and put complex missions in front of the audiences that matter most.

Harvin Moore

Board Member, Investor & Advisor

Was on the launch team for the world's first commercially-funded rocket in 1982. Since then: banking at Treasury, tech CEO, COO of a commercial space company, faculty at International Space University, and board leader across NASA's Space Center Houston. Harvin brings institutional depth and a lifetime in the room where space and education intersect.

Meet the full team & advisors

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