FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Minneapolis, MN) — The Space Workforce Institute (SWI) and Pathful have launched a national partnership to strengthen the future workforce of the space economy by connecting students to space careers earlier and more directly.
The initiative will bring SWI’s industry expertise, learning content, and credential pathways to Pathful’s career-readiness platform, which serves more than 4 million students across all 50 states.
The effort comes as growth across commercial, civil, and defense sectors is increasing demand for workers in fields ranging from engineering and operations to cybersecurity, logistics, communications, and business support.
“The future workforce for the space economy is already in our classrooms,” said Christopher Allen, CEO of the Space Workforce Institute. “This partnership helps students see where they fit in that future early enough to prepare.”
Pathful partners with schools, districts, state education agencies, and workforce partners to help students explore careers and understand how their interests align with real-world roles. Through the new partnership, students using the platform will gain greater access to space-sector career exploration and clearer pathways to training and credentials aligned with industry needs.
“Students are far more likely to pursue a career when they can see it and understand how to get there,” said Ryan Hagedorn, CEO of Pathful. “This partnership helps open the door to space careers for more students and shows that those opportunities are not limited to one background, skill set, or community.”
The partnership launches with immediate national reach and will begin early activation in the Greater Houston region, where Pathful’s relationships with the Greater Houston Partnership and the broader ecosystem around NASA’s Johnson Space Center provide a strong foundation for regional workforce engagement.
The initiative also builds on Pathful’s existing relationships in Nevada and Utah, two states with growing importance in the commercial and defense space sectors.
By combining Pathful’s scale with SWI’s sector-specific expertise, the organizations aim to strengthen the pipeline from career discovery to workforce readiness in the space economy.
The partnership was formalized in a memorandum of understanding executed on March 6, 2026.
About the Space Workforce Institute (SWI)
The Space Workforce Institute was established to bring together leaders, institutions, and organizations to address workforce challenges across the space industry and help meet the sector’s growing needs. Organized as a public-benefit corporation, SWI focuses on defining job roles, developing skill standards, and building credential pathways across commercial space and Department of Defense roles.
Its credentials cover foundational and specialized competencies, including electromagnetic radiation theory, orbital mechanics, rocket science fundamentals, the space environment, spacecraft design, and mission areas and capabilities.
For more information, visit spaceworkforceinstitute.org.
About Pathful
Pathful is a career-readiness and development platform for K–16 learners, serving more than 4 million students across all 50 states through partnerships with school districts, state education agencies, and workforce development partners. The platform helps students explore careers through assessments, virtual job shadowing, live sessions with professionals, and industry-informed learning experiences developed in partnership with employers.
For more information, visit pathful.com.
Media Contact
Christopher Allen
Space Workforce Institute
(952) 200-9079
christopher@novaspaceinc.com