United States President Donald Trump has signed an executive order establishing the country’s first-ever Space Academy.
On Friday during an event honoring the four-person Artemis II crew at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Texas, Trump made the unexpected announcement. He described the training facility as “a big deal” and said it would be “top line”.
“I will sign an executive order to begin the process of creating a new national academy. It’s called the US Space Academy,” Trump told the astronauts and NASA employees who gathered to hear him speak.
Trump likened the space academy to other prestigious US service institutions, like the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, and the US Military Academy in West Point, New York. Those schools, similar to colleges, prepare a select number of young adults in the US to become officers in the country’s military branches.
“They’re all great. But … we’re gonna have an academy for what the people in this room love the most,” Trump said. “That’s really exciting.”
The order also establishes a new presidential commission that would “advise and assist” Trump in the academy’s creation.
This commission will be led by NASA administrator Jared Isaacman and include top administration officials, among them Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, Air Force Secretary Troy Meink and Russ Vought, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget.
The president said graduates of the new academy would serve the US Space Force, NASA and the civilian flight industry.
“It’ll attract, train and graduate the very best of our nation,” Trump added.
Space has been a significant priority during Trump’s two terms in the White House. In December 2019, Trump signed into law a bill establishing the Space Force, marking the creation of the US military’s sixth branch.
“There are grave threats to our national security,” Trump said at the time. “The Space Force will help us deter aggression and control the ultimate high ground.”
At Friday’s ceremony, Trump presented the Congressional Space Medal of Honor to each of the four members of this year’s Artemis II crew: NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, along with Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
The medal is the highest civilian honour in the US for achievement in space flight.
In April, the Artemis II crew looped around the far side of the moon, taking humans further into space than ever before. The mission was an important step in the Trump administration’s plan to return astronauts to the moon by 2028.
Trump said one of his meetings this past spring was interrupted by news of the crew’s endeavours.
“I was at a very important meeting with the biggest people in the country,” Trump explained. “And somebody said, ‘I’d like to watch Artemis.’ I said, ‘You would? Really?'”
He added that he paused the meeting to accommodate the request. “We actually had a television pulled up, and everybody was spellbound.”
At Friday’s event, the Artemis II crew also presented Trump with a gift: a blue flight jacket with the NASA logo.
“Mr President, when we were in your office and you were so gracious to us – lavishing us with gifts and so much of your time – we had mentioned getting you one of these blue flight jackets,” Glover said to Trump. “And so here we have your jacket today.”
But the future of the Artemis exploration initiative remains unclear.
In May, an unmanned Blue Origin rocket exploded at a launch facility in Cape Canaveral, Florida, causing damage to the site. The incident spurred questions about NASA’s readiness for upcoming missions.
The Artemis III mission was initially expected to return humankind to the moon. But in February, NASA scrapped that plan, instead announcing that Artemis III would focus on running drills in Earth’s orbit, to ensure the safety of future moon missions.
The mission will practice docking with Moon lander models from the private companies Blue Origin and SpaceX.
