Trump Orders a Space Academy and 1,000 Launches a Year

An executive order creates the U.S. Space Academy while a new transport policy sets a 2030 target of more than 1,000 launches annually.

By The space-quantum Desk

President Donald J. Trump signed an executive order to establish the nation's first U.S. Space Academy, a new institution meant to train engineers, scientists, and operators for an expanding American space program. [1] The 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. [1]

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman will chair a new Presidential Commission on the United States Space Academy, with NASA Deputy Administrator Matt Anderson as executive director. [1] The commission has 120 days to deliver recommendations covering governance framework, service obligations for graduates, physical location of the academy, legislative requirements, and more. [1]

The academy order arrived alongside a new National Space Transportation Policy memorandum, signed on Aug. 20, that sets a concrete infrastructure target: by 2030, U.S. launch ranges must support more than 1,000 launches and reentries every year. [2] The memorandum supersedes Presidential Policy Directive 26 of November 21, 2013, and directs agencies to expedite facility permitting and incentivize co-development of launch and reentry infrastructure, while designating the Secretary of War and the NASA Administrator as launch agents required to favor commercial space transportation services for meeting U.S. government needs. [2]

Together, the two directives sketch a version of space policy that treats workforce and infrastructure as equally load-bearing — neither can scale without the other.

[1] Whether the commission's 120-day report produces a credible site, budget, and curriculum — or a glossy holding document — will determine whether the academy becomes institution or aspiration. [1]