An inaugural United States Space Academy will soon rise on American soil, offering a greater avenue for young people who want to be astronauts and rocket scientists.
President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order August 28 to formally launch the plan to establish the landmark institution, which he said would “attract, train and graduate the very best of our nation.”
“That’s a big deal,” Trump said at an awarding ceremony for the Artemis II crew at the Johnson Space Centre in Texas on Friday, moments before he penned the order.
As good as the others
According to Trump, the proposed academy would serve the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the civilian spaceflight industry and the US Space Force, the sixth branch of the US Armed Forces, launched during Trump’s first presidential term in 2019.
The soon-to-rise institution will be modelled after existing military service academies in the country, like the US Military Academy in West Point, New York, and Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, which Trump said are “among the hardest schools to get into.”
“We’re going to have an academy for what the people in this room love the most,” Trump told NASA employees and astronauts at Friday’s ceremony.
“It’s got to be topline… It’s got to be the equivalent of the others,” he said, adding that he is now in the process of selecting a location for the project.
NASA-led commission
According to the copy of the Executive Order on the establishment of the US Space Academy, a new presidential commission is formed to facilitate the institution’s creation.
NASA administrator Jared Isaacman takes the lead as the commission’s chair, alongside NASA Deputy Administrator Matt Anderson, who is the executive director.
The two work with Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, Michael Kratsios, and Assistant to the President for Economic Policy, Kevin Hassett, who were appointed as the commission’s vice chairs.
“The Commission shall advise and assist the President regarding proposals to establish the United States Space Academy (Space Academy), a proposed NASA-led Federal academy dedicated to combining rigorous technical education with leadership development, discipline and a durable commitment to public service,” reads the government proclamation.
It said the newly-formed body is tasked to submit “a report proposing key details for the establishment of the Space Academy” 120 days after the executive order was signed.
“A governance framework… including the appropriate organisational structure, authorities, accreditations and relationships among relevant executive departments and agencies (agencies),” should be central to the report, among other essential recommendations, the order said.
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To the moon and beyond
The development comes against the backdrop of Washington’s multi-billion-dollar moon exploration programme, called Artemis, which aims to return the presence of humans to Earth’s only natural satellite.
During the event in Texas, Trump said the planned establishment of the Space Academy expands US ambitions “to the moon and far beyond the moon” in the next few years.
“It is clear that we will need to educate and train an entire generation of skilled service members and engineers and civil operators, and everything else to do what we have to do, and what we’re right now doing the best and will continue,” he said.
A significant development in the long-range Artemis programme was achieved in April this year, following the success of Artemis II mission, a 10-day crewed flight around the moon.
During Friday’s ceremony, Trump presented the Congressional Space Medal of Honour to each of the four astronauts involved in the historic flyby, namely Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch of NASA and Jeremy Hansen of Canada.
The medal recognises extraordinary accomplishments in spaceflight, first bestowed by US President Jimmy Carter to NASA astronaut Neil Armstrong in 1978.
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