Trump Signs Executive Order to Establish U.S. Space Academy

<p>President Donald Trump signed an executive order on August 28, 2026, to establish the U.S. Space Academy. The location of the academy has not yet been determined, but Trump compared its significance to that of the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York, and the United States Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut.</p><p>The U.S. Space Academy will cater to students aspiring to join the U.S. Space Force, a military branch created during Trump's first term. It will also support NASA and the civilian spaceflight industry.</p><p>During remarks at NASA's Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, Trump stated, "We're going to have an academy for what the people in this room love the most. That's exciting. That's really exciting. And I'm going to be choosing a location very shortly."</p><p>The event also included the awarding of the Congressional Space Medal of Honor to the four Artemis II astronauts. Trump was accompanied by more than a dozen astronauts throughout the ceremony.</p><p>After signing the executive order, Trump presented the award, which was first given to Neil Armstrong in 1978, to the Artemis II crew members: NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman, mission commander; NASA astronaut Victor Glover, pilot; NASA astronaut Christina Koch, mission specialist; and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, also a mission specialist.</p><p>Trump remarked, "We gather here on these storied grounds to celebrate the immense courage and service of four intrepid space heroes whose sense of daring and adventure led them further from Earth than anyone has ever traveled before. Incredible." He referred to the crew members as "great people" and expressed gratitude to the engineers and scientists involved in the Artemis II mission.</p><p>Wiseman, when called to speak, acknowledged Trump's presence, stating, "Mr. President, it means a lot that you are here at the Johnson Space Center. It underscores the important work that is going on here in Mission Control, in furthering human exploration. Thank you for coming here today."</p><p>The Artemis II astronauts launched aboard the Orion spacecraft on April 1, 2026, and spent nearly 10 days traveling around the Moon before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean on April 10. Their trajectory reached 252,756 miles from Earth, the farthest any humans have traveled.</p><p>Unlike previous lunar missions, the Artemis II team did not land on the Moon. Their mission focused on orbiting the Moon while testing the spacecraft and systems intended for future lunar landings.</p><p>NASA indicated that the mission serves as a precursor to Artemis III, scheduled for 2027, which will involve a series of tests in Earth orbit. Artemis IV, planned for early 2028, aims to send astronauts to the lunar South Pole for the first time.</p><p>The overarching goal of the Artemis program is to establish a long-term human presence on the Moon and eventually send astronauts to Mars.</p><p>Trump stated, "America has always been a frontier nation, and space is the highest of all the frontiers. Our manifest destiny is to explore and settle this great unknown. Americans were the first in flight, the first to the Moon, and will certainly be the first in space, no matter where it is. And I know we're going to be looking at Mars very shortly."</p><p>He also announced that NASA has begun work on the first nuclear-powered "interplanetary spacecraft" for the planned 2028 mission to Mars, explaining, "They have to go nuclear because they have essentially unlimited fuel. You don't have to fill up the tanks. This ship will be among the first of what will ultimately be a massive American Star fleet, making space travel almost as common as ocean travel today, and bringing our military to a new level of excellence."</p><p>Throughout his speech, Trump criticized previous administrations for allowing U.S. space programs to decline, specifically mentioning the Obama administration. He stated, "In particular, the Obama administration, we even lost our ability to send astronauts into orbit at all. We had no ability in space whatsoever. We totally lost it with everything we spent, with all of the talent and all of the genius and all of the money, we had nothing."</p><p>Trump concluded by asserting, "Before the end of my term, American astronauts will return to the lunar surface. And when we do, they'll plant this very important flag to mark the site of the first permanent American settlement on the Moon."</p>