Trump signs order to launch NASA-led commission on creating a U.S. Space Academy

President Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order launching a NASA-led effort to create a U.S. Space Academy, directing a presidential commission to deliver recommendations within 120 days on how such an institution could be established.

The order, titled “Establishing the United States Space Academy,” does not itself create a fully operational academy. Instead, it sets up a planning process centered on a new Presidential Commission on the United States Space Academy and says any implementation would come only after presidential approval, “any necessary legislative action,” and the availability of appropriations under applicable law.

Trump signed the order at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, according to NASA and Reuters. At the event, Trump said, “It’s called the U.S. Space Academy. That’s a big deal.”

Under the order, the commission will be chaired by the NASA administrator, with the NASA deputy administrator serving as executive director. The current NASA administrator is Jared Isaacman. The commission is tasked with recommending a governance framework for the academy, proposed curricula, possible service obligations for graduates, admissions prerequisites including questions such as citizenship and security clearances, a physical location, needed accreditations, any required legislation, and an implementation timeline and sequence.

The White House framed the initiative as part of a broader push to strengthen the U.S. space workforce and maintain American leadership in space. “Space is a critical domain for American national security, economic growth, scientific discovery, and technological innovation,” the executive order says.

Procedurally, the order is best understood as the start of a process rather than the final creation of a new federal academy. Executive orders can create commissions and direct agencies to study or plan initiatives, but establishing a new academy with formal authorities would typically require Congress to pass legislation and provide funding. The U.S. Air Force Academy, for example, was created by an Act of Congress in 1954.

The order is also notable because it puts NASA, the civilian space agency, rather than the Pentagon, in charge of the initial study and recommendation process.

One point requires a careful distinction. In a same-day release, NASA said the order “would establish” the nation’s first U.S. Space Academy at Johnson Space Center in Houston. But the White House order itself says the commission must recommend the academy’s physical location, meaning the site is not settled in the text of the order.

That makes the 120-day report a central next step. The commission’s recommendations are supposed to address not only what the academy would teach and how it would be governed, but also what legal and administrative steps would be needed to move from concept to reality.

The signing coincided with a ceremony honoring the Artemis II crew, who received the Congressional Space Medal of Honor. Trump presented the medals to Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen, the four astronauts assigned to NASA’s Artemis II mission.