President Donald Trump signs order creating US Space Academy

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday to establish the U.S. Space Academy, a new national training institution designed to prepare future personnel for service in military, civilian, and commercial space programs.

Trump announced the initiative during an event honoring the four-member Artemis II astronaut crew at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Texas. The president described the proposed facility as a top-line institution, comparing its mission to established service schools like the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, and the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

According to Trump, graduates of the US Space Academy will fill critical roles across the U.S. Space Force, NASA, and the expanding civilian spaceflight industry.

To oversee the creation of the institution, the executive order establishes a new presidential commission. The panel will be chaired by NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman and will include top administration officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Air Force Secretary Troy Meink, and Russ Vought, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget.

The announcement came during a ceremony where Trump presented the Congressional Space Medal of Honor to the crew of Artemis II. The recipients included NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, alongside Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen. In April, the crew achieved a spaceflight milestone by looping around the far side of the moon, traveling further into deep space than any human mission in history. During the presentation, Glover presented Trump with a blue NASA flight jacket on behalf of the crew.

The establishment of the new academy builds on previous space policy initiatives enacted during Trump’s presidency. In December 2019, Trump signed legislation creating the U.S. Space Force, marking the establishment of the sixth branch of the U.S. Armed Forces. The administration has maintained a strategic goal of landing astronauts on the moon by 2028 as part of the Artemis program.

However, the timeline and execution of future Artemis missions face ongoing challenges. In May, an uncrewed Blue Origin rocket exploded during testing at a launch facility in Cape Canaveral, Florida, causing damage to the site and prompting concerns over mission readiness.

Additionally, NASA has modified its plan for the upcoming Artemis III mission. Initially intended to mark humanity's return to the lunar surface, NASA announced in February that the mission will instead focus on Earth-orbit drills to practice docking with lander systems under development by private contractors SpaceX and Blue Origin. NASA announced the crew selection in June for the two-week Artemis III mission, which remains scheduled for next year.