US To Set Up First Space Academy, Eyes Missions 'Far Beyond The Moon'

The US will establish its first Space Academy as President Donald Trump seeks to expand American human spaceflight ambitions far beyond the Moon, including future missions to Mars and deeper into space.

Trump signed an executive order on Friday to begin creating the United States Space Academy during a visit to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. The proposed institution will be modelled on prestigious service academies such as West Point, Annapolis, the Air Force Academy and the Coast Guard Academy.

The academy is expected to train the next generation of civilian and military space professionals, with a focus on technical education, leadership and service. It is intended to support NASA, the US Space Force and the growing commercial space sector. Its location, final structure and funding arrangements are yet to be decided.

A presidential commission led by NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman will work out the academy’s organisation and submit recommendations within 120 days. The initiative comes as the US seeks to strengthen its workforce for increasingly ambitious lunar and deep space programmes.

During his Houston visit, Trump also spoke with Expedition 75 astronauts Anil Menon, Jack Hathaway and Jessica Meir aboard the International Space Station. He praised them as “great Americans, great patriots” and “pioneers” and invited the crew to meet him at the White House after returning to Earth.

Menon, a US Space Force colonel, told Trump he was proud to serve in space and discussed a recent spacewalk. He said the US was preparing for its next journey to the Moon, a Moon base and Mars, reflecting the broader ambition to push human exploration beyond low Earth orbit.

Trump’s visit also featured the presentation of the Congressional Space Medal of Honor to Artemis II astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen. The crew flew around the Moon in April, marking the first crewed lunar flyby in more than 50 years and setting a new human distance record from Earth.

The Space Academy plan comes as Washington positions the US for a new era of lunar exploration, a potential Moon base and eventual Mars missions, with Trump signalling that America’s ambitions in space will extend well beyond the Moon.