President Donald Trump has signed an executive order creating the U.S. Space Academy, a first-of-its-kind institution designed to train the next generation of Americans for careers in space.
Trump made the surprise announcement Friday at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
The event was also honoring the four astronauts who completed the historic Artemis II mission around the moon earlier this year.
“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 audience.
NOW – Trump awards Artemis II crew Congressional Space Medal of Honor for flying around the Moon. pic.twitter.com/ScX9o60Xl1
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) August 28, 2026
Trump said the academywould rank alongside America’s prestigious military academies, including West Point and the U.S. Naval Academy.
“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.”
BREAKING: President Donald J. Trump just signed an Executive Order establishing a new federal academy, THE UNITED STATES SPACE ACADEMY. 🚀🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/BOxPfoVLeX
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) August 28, 2026
The academy will recruit and train Americans for careers with the U.S. Space Force, NASA and the civilian space industry.
“It’ll attract, train and graduate the very best of our nation,” Trump said, describing the project as “a big deal” and promising it would be “top line.”
The executive order creates a presidential commission tasked with designing and establishing the academy.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman will lead the commission, which will include Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Air Force Secretary Troy Meink and White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought.
The announcement marks another expansion of Trump’s space agenda.
🚨 BREAKING: President Trump has just signed an executive order creating the US SPACE FORCE ACADEMY
This’ll be on par with military academies like West Point
The Golden Age of American space dominance is BACK! 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/yzjVRfQHmG
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) August 28, 2026
During his first term, Trump established the Space Force in 2019 as the first new branch of the U.S. military since the creation of the Air Force in 1947.
Present at the event were NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, along with Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
The four made history in April when Artemis II carried them around the far side of the moon, sending humans farther into space than ever before.
The administration is seeking to return Americans to the lunar surface by 2028, while NASA is already preparing Artemis III for 2027.
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