Former President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday, August 28, 2026, launching the formal process to create a national U.S. Space Academy—a new institution designed to train the next generation of NASA astronauts, United States Space Force personnel, and professionals for the private space industry.
A Strategic Response to Global Competition
The move comes amid intensifying geopolitical and technological rivalry in space, particularly with China. Speaking at a medal ceremony at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Trump announced: “I will sign an order that initiates the creation of a new national academy. It will be called the United States Space Academy.” He presented the Congressional Space Honor Medal to the Artemis II crew during the same event.
“This is something truly significant,” Trump emphasized, describing the academy’s mission as attracting, educating, and graduating the nation’s top scientific and engineering talent. The academy will serve not only the United States Space Force—the sixth branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, established during Trump’s first term—but also NASA and commercial space companies.
No Location Yet Confirmed
While the academy’s mandate and institutional scope are now official, its physical location has not yet been determined. Trump underscored the strategic imperative behind the initiative: “A nation cannot be first on Earth if it is second in space. That simply won’t happen. In some ways, it just doesn’t work that way.”
He also highlighted parallel developments in deep-space capability, revealing that NASA has begun development of what he called the first U.S. nuclear-powered interplanetary spacecraft—slated for a Mars mission in 2028. Trump suggested this vehicle could be the vanguard of a broader American fleet aimed at making interplanetary travel more routine.
A New Space Race Takes Shape
The announcement signals the formal opening of what the Trump administration describes as a “second space race”—a reference to the Cold War-era competition between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Today’s contest centers on lunar ambitions: both Washington and Beijing aim to land humans on the Moon by 2030 and establish sustainable bases there. With the U.S. Space Academy, the U.S. seeks to consolidate its leadership in space education, innovation, and military readiness—reinforcing its claim to a renewed era of American space dominance.