Overview
- The executive order, which President Trump signed Friday at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, starts a formal process to create a U.S. Space Academy modeled on existing service academies.
- The president said the academy would train U.S. Space Force members, NASA staff and commercial space workers, but officials have not named a site or decided whether it will be a military service academy or a civilian institution.
- Trump also announced that NASA has begun work on what he called a nuclear-powered interplanetary spacecraft aimed at a 2028 Mars mission, a claim reported from his remarks that lacks independent confirmation in the coverage.
- The announcement came during a ceremony honoring the Artemis II crew, a timing some outlets criticized as political messaging while others focused on the policy move and its potential to expand the nation’s space workforce.
- Creating the academy will require follow-up steps such as agency planning, Congressional authorization or funding, and a public site selection process, which will determine how current commissioning of Space Force officers at the Air Force Academy is affected.