Abstract: The National Spherical Torus Experiment Upgrade (NSTX-U) Project at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory was recently completed and achieved first test plasma on August 10, 2015. When fully operational, NSTX-U will be the most capable spherical torus (ST) facility in the world magnetic fusion program and will substantially broaden tokamak physics understanding. Progress and plans for the NSTX-U research program and the prospects for next-step ST devices will be discussed.