Trump signs order to create space-focused service academy

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday to create a new service academy, the U.S. Space Academy. 

Trump made the announcement during a visit to ⁠NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, where he ​honored the Artemis II crew with the Congressional Space ​Medal of Honor.

Trump said “the rapid growth of the Space Force and the commercial space industry and the expansion of our ambitions to the moon and far beyond the moon” inspired the new academy.

The president added that the academy would help train the next generation of service members, engineers and civilian operators needed as ​the U.S. Space Force and commercial space industry ​grow.

The school will be modeled after West Point and other military service academies.

A location for the school has not been determined. The executive order establishes a commission for the Space Academy, which includes Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Air Force Secretary Troy Meink.

The order directs the commission to present a report to the president within 120 days on key details about the academy such as an academic curriculum and proposed location.

Space Force was established on Dec. 20, 2019, by President Donald Trump as the sixth branch of the U.S. military. It became the first new branch of the armed services in more than seven decades.

Though the concept of an independent military branch focused on space was initially opposed by many in the Pentagon, the idea was championed by Trump and Vice President Mike Pence. Eventually, top officials, including secretaries of defense and the Air Force, warmed to the idea, especially once it became clear the service would fit within the Air Force Department, in a way much like how the Marine Corps sits inside the Navy Department.