Donald Trump Honors Artemis Crew, Signs Order Creating U.S. Space Academy

WASHINGTON— President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday to start the process of creating a United States Space Academy and awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor to the four members of the Artemis II crew

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The order established a Presidential Commission on the United States Space Academy, which will be chaired by the NASA administrator and advise Trump on creating the federal academy.

The proposed NASA-led academy would combine “rigorous technical education with leadership development, discipline, and a durable commitment to public service,” according to the order.

It would develop a “professional corps of civically grounded leaders” focused on advancing American interests in space.

Trump signed the order during an event at NASA’s Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, where he honored Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen as “fearless explorers.”

“Space is the hot thing,” Trump said.

The astronauts completed a daring 10-day mission around the Moon in April before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean.

Trump said American astronauts would return to the Moon before the end of his administration and signed a plaque that will be installed on the lunar surface during that mission.

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“Before the end of my term, American astronauts will return to the lunar surface…and when we do, they’ll plant this very important flag, to mark the site of the first permanent American settlement on the Moon. They’re going to have a settlement, they’re building a settlement up on the Moon. And we’re not going to stop there.”

Trump also spoke from NASA’s Mission Control Center with astronauts about the International Space Station.

“You’re great Americans, great patriots, brave people,” the president told astronauts. “I wouldn’t do it. I will tell you right now. I hate to admit it, I would not want to do it.”

The White House described the announcement as part of Trump’s effort to restore “American space superiority,” citing the April launch of Artemis II, the first crewed flight around the Moon in over 50 years, and the reopening of the Artemis III lander contract to speed up a lunar landing.

Trump established the Space Force in 2019 and has set a goal of obtaining a lunar reactor by 2030.

Trump has “cut red tape holding back the commercial space industry,” according to the White House, launched the development of the Golden Dome in 2025, the long-awaited missile defense shield, proposed the largest funding increase for any military service in 75 years for the Space Force, and moved the Space Command to Alabama.

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