By Jacob Bogage and Nandita Bose
HOUSTON, Aug 28 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order to begin creating a U.S. Space Academy, a new institution modeled on West Point and other top U.S. military service academies.
“It’s called the U.S. Space Academy. That’s a big deal,” Trump said 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 academy would help train the service members, engineers and civilian operators needed as the U.S. Space Force and commercial space industry grow and 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.
Trump also said NASA has 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.
He said the vessel could be the first in a larger American fleet aimed at making space travel more routine.
(Reporting by Jacob Bogage and Nandita Bose and Katharine Jackson; editing by Michelle Nichols)
