HOUSTON: President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday to begin creating a space academy, a new institution modelled on West Point and other top US military service academies.

“It’s called the US Space Academy. That’s a big deal,” Trump said during a visit to Nasa’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, where he honoured the Artemis II crew with the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.

Trump said the academy would help train the service members, engineers and civilian operators needed as Washington expands its ambitions on the moon and beyond.

“A nation cannot be first on Earth if we’re going to be second in space. Just not going to happen. Somehow, it just doesn’t work that way,” Trump added.

The president also said Nasa had begun work on what he called the first nuclear-powered interplanetary spacecraft, which he said is expected to launch on a mission to Mars in 2028.

Published in Dawn, August 29th, 2026