President Donald Trump signed an order Friday creating a presidential commission to design a proposed U.S. Space Academy. The NASA-led federal academy would train students for careers across military, civil and commercial space programs.
Commission Gets 120 Days
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman will chair the commission, while NASA Deputy Administrator Matt Anderson will serve as executive director. The group has 120 days to recommend a governance structure, academic curriculum, applicant requirements, possible service obligations for graduates and any legislation needed to establish the space academy. The White House order also calls for an implementation plan and coordination with existing federal education programs.
“Given the rapid growth of the U.S. Space Force and commercial space industry, and the expansion of our ambitions to the Moon and far beyond the Moon, it’s clear we will need to educate and train an entire generation of skilled service members, engineers, and civil operators,” Trump said during the signing.
Location Remains Undecided
The Space Academy signing took place at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, where Trump also presented the Artemis II crew with the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.
Although NASA’s announcement described the academy as being established at Johnson, the order itself does not designate a permanent campus. Instead, the commission must recommend a process for selecting the academy’s physical location. Implementation could also require congressional action and would depend on available funding.
The space academy proposal follows several other administration space-policy actions. Trump signed the “Ensuring American Space Superiority” order in December 2025, followed by a new national space transportation policy on Aug. 20. The commission’s report will determine more of the proposed academy’s structure and what steps would be required before it could begin operating.
Anyone know where the USSF currently gets its regular officers? USAFA? And do they get reserve officers from ROTC? AFROTC maybe?
USSF is part of the Department of the Air Force. It commissions through USAFA and AFROTC. This mirrors the accession process for the USMC and USNA/NROTC.
“Space Force” just doesn’t roll off the tongue. “Space Academy” is even worse.
Should have gone with “U.S Space Command” and either renamed or absorbed that already named unified command.
Does this meet a real need, or does it just spit in the soup of the hundreds of excellent engineering schools we already have?