HOUSTON: President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday to begin creating the US Space Academy, with its location still undecided, NASA said.
Trump signed the order at NASA’s Johnson Space Centre in Houston on August 28. He compared the proposed institution with established US service academies such as West Point and the US Naval Academy.
The academy would train engineers, scientists, technicians, operators and other space professionals. Trump said it would support NASA, the US Space Force and the civilian spaceflight industry.
However, the order does not immediately establish a campus. Instead, it creates a presidential commission led by NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. NASA Deputy Administrator Matt Anderson will serve as executive director.
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The commission must submit recommendations within 120 days. Its report will cover the academy’s location, governance, graduate service requirements and any legislation needed to establish it.
At the same ceremony, Trump awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honour to the four Artemis II astronauts: Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
Read: NASA Artemis II Mission: 5 Surprising Facts About the Moon Flyby
The Artemis II crew launched aboard NASA’s Orion spacecraft on April 1 and returned to Earth on April 10. NASA said they travelled 252,756 miles from Earth, setting a human distance record during their lunar flyby.
