While JD Vance is focused on his role as vice president, his prospects for the top job have surely crossed his mind. He has strong support among GOP primary voters. His youth appeal and support for “working-class capitalism,” while a departure from yesteryear’s Republican orthodoxy, have elevated his popularity. And his support for a realist yet restrained foreign policy appeals to a wide swath of voters who are exhausted by interventionism. If he can weave these threads into a unified and coherent agenda, he will be a formidable force in 2028.

The vice president might further advance by attending to a policy area that he has so far neglected: outer space. While top politicians have often been ambivalent about making space a priority — even President Kennedy, whose Rice University address launched the original moon shot, cared only to the extent that it could showcase U.S. superiority over the Soviet Union — domestic and international circumstances make this the perfect time to champion the conquest of the final frontier.

Historically, vice presidents have been their bosses’ point men for space policy. Mike Pence performed this role admirably during Trump’s first administration as chairman of the National Space Council. By taking personal interest and exercising leadership, Pence contributed to several notable policy initiatives, including strengthening property rights to celestial resources, promoting the commercial space industry, and advancing long-term strategic interests. But these gains may erode for lack of an advocate. The National Space Council has yet to meet since Trump’s inauguration, and despite occasional positive remarks, Vance seems lukewarm about space.

But Vance doesn’t need to share Pence’s interest in space to benefit from it. The key is using space as a launching pad for coalitional objectives. The stars have aligned to make space a top-tier policy area, if the vice president so chooses.

A good place to start is with young voters, who are hungry for purpose. Americans under 30 are losing their trust in established institutions and are weary of partisan squabbles over marginal tax rates and entitlement tweaks. Instead, they want meaningful and values-based political projects. It’s hard to come up with a more appealing call to collective excellence than space exploration. Whether it’s building long-term habitats on the Moon or preparing for a manned Mars mission, space offers our country’s youth the chance to participate in a civilizational endeavor.

History proves this can work. Regardless of his ulterior motives, JFK galvanized a nation to meet the challenges of the first space race. Vance doesn’t yet have a presidential pulpit, but he can still lead by spearheading domestic policy efforts and encouraging those beginning their professional lives to pursue space-related vocations.

The first space race was largely an elite affair, driven by scientists and engineers with formal academic credentials. But the second space race will be different in a way that plays to Vance’s strengths. Thanks to increased commercialization, space can create broadly distributed economic prosperity. The technological and commercial opportunities afforded by expanding space missions are enormous. Obviously, we need engineers and rocket scientists. But we also need plenty of welders and skilled machinists. Technically competent workers are essential for wiring, assembling, and testing spacecraft. These jobs have rigorous training and apprenticeship programs but typically do not require college degrees. Imagine offering laborers the chance to work with their hands on materials that will travel beyond the Earth and maybe even to new worlds — all without running the absurd ideological gauntlet now entrenched in our institutions of higher education.

The celestial economy is growing rapidly. It’s currently worth about $600 billion per year and could reach as much as $1.8 trillion within a decade. Americans from all walks of life can find meaningful and remunerative work in the new space economy. Even better, it helps the working class without the need for controversial regulatory or redistribution schemes. By leaning into space commerce, Vance could strengthen his working-class Republican bona fides without alienating more-traditional GOP voters.

Finally, achieving space supremacy is a national security imperative. Russia’s belligerence is by now well known, and its martial space capabilities are troubling. China poses an even greater threat. The Chinese are on pace to land on the Moon before 2030 — perhaps ahead of America’s return — and have ambitious plans for controlling space networks, platforms, and governance norms. To outcompete our authoritarian rivals, we need long-term commercial, scientific, and military coordination, not endless troop deployments or nation-building. Rallying the public around space helps us meet necessary strategic goals without repeating foreign-policy blunders.

Vance is no stranger to the China threat. He recognized earlier than most that indiscriminate global engagements sap the resources needed to contain our most dangerous adversary, the Chinese Communist Party. Keeping space free and open to commerce, science, and exploration requires a coalition of free nations, with an American president at the helm. There’s no time like the present to lay the groundwork.

Space policy has long been a plaything for technocrats, and nobody ever rode a wave of celestial enthusiasm to the Oval Office. But recent political and economic developments have transformed space from an esoteric realm into an essential domain of national competence. Vance should use space to inspire young voters, uplift the working class, and secure America’s place as the world’s premier nation. In 2028, the quickest path to the White House just might run through the heavens.