Trump Establishes U.S. Space Academy and Honors Artemis II Crew

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on August 28, 2026, to establish the U.S. Space Academy, a military-style institution modeled after West Point and Annapolis. During a visit to the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Trump stated the academy will train service members, engineers, and civilian operators to support NASA, the U.S. Space Force, and the commercial space industry. While a final location has not been announced, the academy is intended to maintain American space superiority amid strategic rivalry with China.

At the same event, Trump awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor to the four-member Artemis II crew—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen—for their 10-day lunar mission in April 2026. Trump also became the first sitting president to call the International Space Station from Mission Control. During the ceremony, he attributed his interest in space to genetics and his uncle, Dr. John Trump, though reports noted that Dr. Trump's career at MIT did not include space research.

Looking toward future exploration, the administration announced the development of the Space Reactor-1 (SR-1) Freedom, a nuclear-powered interplanetary spacecraft scheduled for a Mars mission in December 2028. Trump further outlined goals to establish a permanent lunar settlement by the end of his term and increase U.S. space transportation capacity to over 1,000 annual launches and reentries by 2030 through public-private partnerships. NASA officials confirmed that Artemis III will launch next year, with Artemis IV aiming for a lunar landing by 2028.