President Donald Trump has signed an executive order directing the creation of a new federal service academy built for America’s rapidly expanding mission in space.
The institution would educate future Space Force officers, NASA personnel, engineers, and civilian space professionals.
Trump announced the move Friday while speaking at NASA’s Johnson Space Center during an event honoring the members of the Artemis II mission.
The academy is intended to stand alongside America’s established military service academies while addressing the increasingly technical demands of space operations.
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The president, who established the Space Force during his first term in 2019, said the academy will “educate and train an entire generation of skilled service members, engineers, and civil operators.”
The plan represents another major step toward placing American space power on permanent institutional footing.
“It’s called the U.S. Space Academy,” Trump said. “That’s a big deal.”
Trump compared the proposed institution with the academies that have trained generations of American military leaders.
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His message was straightforward: Space Force has matured into an essential military branch, and its guardians deserve a dedicated academy of their own.
“So you think of West Point, and you think of Annapolis, and you think of the Air Force Academy, and you think of the Coast Guard academies,” Trump said. “Great, they’re all great.”
“But we’re going to have now the Space Force,” the president continued. The announcement reflects Trump’s broader effort to ensure the United States does not surrender the strategic high ground of space to China, Russia, or any other competitor eager to test American resolve.
The executive order describes the institution as a “NASA-led Federal academy dedicated to combining rigorous technical education with leadership development, discipline, and a durable commitment to public service.”
That approach would blend advanced scientific instruction with the command standards expected from officers entrusted with national security missions.
Unlike traditional service academies focused primarily on commissioning military officers, the U.S. Space Academy would have a broader mission.
It would prepare Space Force guardians, NASA professionals, and qualified personnel from the civilian space industry for increasingly complex responsibilities beyond Earth.
Future guardians currently attend the Air Force Academy because Space Force does not yet operate an independent commissioning academy.
Guardians also complete enlisted basic training at Joint Base San Antonio Lackland alongside airmen, although their instruction has increasingly incorporated service specific culture and space focused missions.
Trump pointed to the “rapid growth” of Space Force as a central reason for establishing the academy.
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The service currently has roughly 10,000 guardians, and its senior enlisted leadership has expressed a desire to double that force as military space requirements continue expanding.
The need is not merely about adding personnel to a relatively young branch.
Satellites support communications, missile warning, navigation, intelligence collection, and battlefield coordination, making space operations indispensable to nearly every modern American military mission.
Several major details remain unresolved, including where the academy will be constructed.
Trump said a location would be selected “very shortly,” but the administration has not announced a specific opening date or provided a final construction schedule.
The executive order establishes a commission led by NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman to shape the academy’s development.
War Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink will also serve on the commission, bringing military requirements directly into the planning process.
Under Trump’s directive, the commission must produce a report within 120 days addressing the proposed curriculum, organizational structure, and service obligations for graduates.
Those recommendations will help determine how the academy balances NASA’s scientific expertise with Space Force discipline and operational demands.
The proposal gives America’s newest military service a pathway toward the same institutional strength enjoyed by the older branches.
Trump created Space Force when Washington’s professional class still treated the concept like a punchline, but the expanding space race has made that old skepticism look increasingly shortsighted.
A dedicated academy would help build a lasting pipeline of technically capable officers and public servants prepared for competition in orbit and beyond.
If carried through, the U.S. Space Academy could become one of Trump’s most consequential national security investments, training the people who will protect American interests on the next frontier.
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