Trump Honors Artemis II Crew, Signs Executive Order to Establish a U.S. Space Academy

President Trump signed an Executive Order today during a ceremony honoring the Artemis II crew that will create a NASA-led U.S. Space Academy to “encourage and guide” students to pursue cutting-edge technical fields to ensure American superiority in space. Trump said it will be equivalent to West Point, the Air Force Academy, the Naval Academy, and the Coast Guard Academy.

The Executive Order directs NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman to chair a commission to work out the details and implement them following White House approval.

The purpose is to create a “NASA-led Federal academy dedicated to combining rigorous technical education with leadership development, discipline, and a durable commitment to public service. The Space Academy will develop a professional corps of civically grounded leaders prepared to advance American interests within the space domain.”

Michael Kratsios, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, and Kevin Hassett, Assistant to the President for Economic Policy, are the Vice Chairs, with NASA Deputy Administrator Matt Anderson as Executive Director. Several other key  White House and DOD officials are members including Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink, and the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, a position held by Secretary of State Marco Rubio on an acting basis since May 2025.

The commission has 120 days to report back to the President with recommendations on governance, including the option of establishing the Space Academy within NASA; academic and leadership curriculum; service obligations for graduates; and other specifications including whatever legislative action may be required.

“Given the rapid growth of the Space Force and the commercial space industry and the expansion of our ambitions to the Moon and far beyond the Moon … it’s clear we will need to educate and train an entire generation of skilled service members, engineers, and civil operators,” Trump told the audience. He added that he’ll announce a location for the Academy “very shortly” and there already are many contenders. Though led by NASA, it will serve the U.S. Space Force as well as the civilian spaceflight industry and be the “equivalent” of the other Academies.

Isaacman called it a “transformational step to educate the engineers, scientists, technicians, operators and even the astronauts who will be necessary for the inspiring future we are pursuing in space. In the years ahead, we will return NASA astronauts to the lunar surface, build the Moon Base, get underway on nuclear power, ignite the orbital economy and launch more missions of science and discovery,”

Trump made the announcement as he awarded the Artemis II crew with the Congressional Space Medal of Honor at Johnson Space Center, TX. Commander Reid Wiseman (NASA), Pilot Victor Glover (NASA), Mission Specialist Christina Koch (NASA), and Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen (Canadian Space Agency) accepted the awards with the entire NASA astronaut corps standing alongside.

With U.S.-Canadian tensions high over trade disputes, no mention was made that Hansen is with the Canadian Space Agency. Only 30 astronauts had been awarded the medal until now, 17 of them posthumously (the crews of Apollo 1, Challenger, and Columbia). Hansen is not the first non-American, however. Israeli fighter pilot Ilan Ramon was a member of the Columbia crew that perished in 2003.

Most of Trump’s remarks today focused on NASA and the Moon-to-Mars plans, including building a Moon Base. After the ceremony, he went to Mission Control and spoke with the American members of the International Space Station crew — Jessica Meir, Anil Menon, and Jack Hathaway — and then signed a commemorative plaque to be placed on the Moon by the next U.S. crew that lands there. That mission, Artemis IV, is currently scheduled for 2028 while he is still in office. The plaque says:

“America has returned. Under the leadership of President Donald J. Trump, and with the hopes and dreams of all mankind, here marks the beginnings of humanity’s first outpost on another world. Signed, President Donald Trump, president of the United States of America.”

Trump also gave a shout-out to the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, scheduled for launch on Sunday.  “It’s a big deal. … Hundreds of times more powerful than Hubble. That’s all you have to know.”