The African Union (AU) is a continental body consisting of 55 member states joined by the Constitutive Act of the African Union and the Protocol on Amendments to the Constitutive Act of the African Union. The AU Agenda 2063 is the central policy framework of the Organisation.

The AU's outer space activities are overseen by the Education, Science, Technology and Innovation Division. The African Space Policy and the African Space Strategy are the key political instruments which formalise and lead the AU's space programme. In 2018 the statute of the African Space Agency was adopted, in order to create a primary body for the implementation of the AU space policy and strategy as well as conduct relevant space activities. In 2023, an agreement was made between Egypt and the AU to host the African Space Agency in Cairo and construction and staff recruitment is underway.