President Donald Trump signs order creating US Space Academy

What the report says

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday creating what he called the US Space Academy, an initiative he announced during an event at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, where he was honoring the Artemis II crew. According to Al Jazeera, Trump framed the academy as a new national service school similar to West Point or the Naval Academy and said it would be designed to train top talent for the country’s space sector.

The order also sets up a presidential commission to help shape the academy’s creation. Al Jazeera reported that NASA administrator Jared Isaacman will lead the panel, joined by senior administration officials including Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, Air Force Secretary Troy Meink and White House budget director Russ Vought. Trump said graduates would go on to work for the US Space Force, NASA and the civilian flight industry.

The announcement fits with Trump’s broader focus on space during both of his terms. He previously signed the law creating the Space Force in 2019. At Friday’s event, he also presented the Congressional Space Medal of Honor to the four members of the Artemis II crew: NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, plus Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen.

Al Jazeera’s report noted that the Artemis program remains central to NASA’s lunar ambitions, though the timeline and plans for later missions have shifted amid technical and safety questions. The new academy proposal adds another layer to the administration’s effort to expand US space capabilities and develop a specialized workforce.