Trump Announces Formation of U.S. Space Academy
President Donald Trump is moving to establish the nation’s first U.S. Space Academy, creating a new pipeline of engineers, scientists, operators and military personnel to protect American dominance in an increasingly important strategic domain.
Trump signed an executive order Friday at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, beginning the process of creating an academy modeled partly on America’s existing military service institutions.
“That’s a big deal,” Trump said. “So, you think of West Point, and you think of Annapolis, and you think of the Air Force Academy, and you think of the Coast Guard Academy. They’re all great, but we’re going to have now a space force.”
“We’re going to have an academy for what the people in this room love the most,” he added.
The proposed institution would prepare graduates for careers with the U.S. Space Force, NASA and America’s rapidly expanding commercial space industry.
Trump said the growth of those sectors, combined with the country’s ambitions on the Moon and beyond, will require an entire generation of highly trained professionals.
“Given the rapid growth of the U.S. Space Force and commercial space industry, and the expansion of our ambitions to the Moon and far beyond the Moon, it’s clear we will need to educate and train an entire generation of skilled service members, engineers, and civil operators,” Trump said.
The executive order does not immediately open the academy or authorize construction of a campus. Instead, it creates the Presidential Commission on the United States Space Academy and directs that body to develop a comprehensive proposal.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman will chair the commission, while NASA Deputy Administrator Matt Anderson will serve as its executive director.
White House science and technology adviser Michael Kratsios and National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett will serve as vice chairs. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Air Force Secretary Troy Meink and other administration officials will also participate.
The commission must submit its recommendations to Trump within 120 days.
Its report will address the academy’s governing structure, curriculum, physical location, funding requirements and potential service obligations for graduates. It will also identify any legislation Congress would need to pass before the institution can begin operating.
The White House said the academy will combine “rigorous technical education with leadership development, discipline and a durable commitment to public service.”
Its mission will be to produce “a professional corps of civically grounded leaders prepared to advance American interests within the space domain.”
Isaacman described the proposal as a transformational investment in America’s future workforce.
“President Trump’s vision for a new academy is a transformational step to educate the engineers, scientists, technicians, operators and even the astronauts who will be necessary for the inspiring future we are pursuing in space,” he said.
Isaacman said future American objectives include returning astronauts to the lunar surface, constructing a Moon base, advancing nuclear power in space, expanding the orbital economy and launching new scientific missions.
“I have no doubt that so much of the future talent that will graduate and contribute to these exciting endeavors will be educated at the United States Space Academy,” he added.
Trump said the academy’s location would be announced “very shortly.”
Texas is expected to compete aggressively for the institution. Republican Sen. Ted Cruz has already lobbied the administration to establish it in the Lone Star State, which is home to Johnson Space Center and an expanding concentration of private space companies.
The academy would become the latest major addition to Trump’s space legacy.
During his first administration, Trump signed legislation establishing the U.S. Space Force as the sixth branch of the armed services.
Created in December 2019, the Space Force became America’s first new military branch in more than 70 years.
The service operates within the Department of the Air Force, similar to the relationship between the Marine Corps and the Department of the Navy. Its responsibilities include protecting American satellites, monitoring threats in orbit and ensuring that U.S. military forces retain access to critical space-based communications, navigation and intelligence systems.
Trump’s academy proposal recognizes that equipment alone cannot secure American superiority.
The United States will also need a sustained supply of highly trained people capable of designing, operating and defending increasingly complex space systems.
China and other competitors are investing heavily in lunar exploration, satellite technology, anti-satellite weapons and military operations beyond Earth. The Space Academy is intended to ensure the United States develops its own technical and leadership corps for that competition.
Trump combined the announcement with a ceremony honoring the four members of NASA’s Artemis II mission.
The president awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor to NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
Their April mission carried them around the Moon aboard the Orion spacecraft after launching on NASA’s Space Launch System rocket.
The crew traveled 252,756 miles from Earth, farther than any humans in history, surpassing the distance record established by Apollo 13 in 1970. Artemis II also marked the first crewed lunar journey in more than five decades.
“We gather on these historic grounds to celebrate the immense courage of four intrepid space heroes whose sense of daring and adventure led them further from Earth than anyone has ever traveled before,” Trump said.
“Today we’re proudly awarding the Congressional Space Medal of Honor to the remarkable crew of Artemis II,” he added.
Trump also thanked the engineers, scientists and mission specialists responsible for the flight’s success.
The Artemis program is intended to return American astronauts to the lunar surface and establish a sustained human presence on the Moon, laying the groundwork for eventual missions to Mars.
Trump’s visit included another presidential milestone when he spoke with astronauts aboard the International Space Station from NASA’s Mission Control Center.
The astronauts said they were “thrilled” to speak with the president and described the scientific work and spacewalks being conducted aboard the orbiting laboratory.
Trump praised them as pioneers but jokingly admitted that spaceflight holds little personal appeal for him.
“I wouldn’t do it,” Trump said.
“I hate to admit it. I would not want to do it. But some people love it more than anything,” he added.
Before concluding the conversation, Trump told the astronauts he looked forward to welcoming them home.
“We’re going to see you when you get back,” he said.
The visit brought together the past, present and future of America’s space program.
Trump honored a record-setting lunar crew, spoke with Americans currently working in orbit and initiated the creation of an academy intended to educate those who will lead the next era of exploration and defense.
The project still requires detailed planning, congressional cooperation and substantial funding. Its final structure and location have not been determined.
But Trump has already demonstrated that ambitious space proposals can become permanent American institutions.
The Space Force began as an idea dismissed by critics before becoming a formal military branch. The U.S. Space Academy could now become the educational foundation supporting that service, NASA and American space innovation for generations.