By GeoSecurity Forum News Desk

President Donald Trump has ordered the creation of a commission to plan a national Space Academy, launching an initiative that would bring NASA and defense officials together to propose the structure of a new institution for the country’s space workforce. The commission has 120 days to submit a report to Trump outlining key details for establishing the academy. Defense One reported that Trump signed the executive order Friday at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

The commission will be chaired by NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman and include Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Air Force Secretary Troy Meink. The order assigns the panel responsibility for planning an academy intended to strengthen the national space workforce as the United States expands its military, commercial and civil space activities.

A White House fact sheet says the proposed school would combine technical education with leadership development and public service. It describes graduates as preparing for careers supporting the nation’s military, civil and broader space enterprise. At the signing ceremony, Trump said the growth of the U.S. Space Force and commercial space industry, along with expanded ambitions involving the Moon and more distant destinations, would require a new generation of service members, engineers and civil operators.

The order directs the commission to evaluate whether graduates would have service obligations, including service in the armed forces. It also calls for consideration of applicant requirements, including citizenship status, security clearances and government employment or military status. Those provisions make military service one subject the commission must examine as it develops its recommendations.

The order does not establish the academy’s final structure. The commission is tasked with proposing key details, while the administration has not provided a detailed account of how the institution would operate or interact with existing military education and officer-commissioning systems. Air Force officials declined to clarify the order, and White House spokespeople did not immediately respond to questions about the academy’s relationship with the armed services and current commissioning pathways.

The Space Force currently commissions officers through the U.S. Air Force Academy, the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps and Officer Training School. It also recruits from public and private universities through its University Partnership Program. The service has not struggled to meet its uniformed recruiting goals, and its leaders have proposed doubling the number of guardians, according to the Defense One report.

That existing system has raised questions about the need for another institution focused on space-related education and service. The Space Force has also been working to rebuild its civilian workforce after cuts during last year’s federal workforce purge. Officials have sought talent to manage a requested $71.3 billion budget, which the Aerospace Corporation described as the largest year-on-year percentage increase for any military service branch since 1952, the report said.

Todd Harrison, a defense budget and space expert at the American Enterprise Institute, said the proposal could blur responsibilities among NASA, the Space Force and intelligence space agencies. He characterized the executive order as “out of left field” and questioned the need for a government-run institution when public and private universities already produce aerospace and engineering graduates. He also pointed to the Space Force’s existing university partnerships.

Harrison said the proposal would require authorization and funding from Congress. The executive order itself assigns the commission to develop recommendations, but the report does not establish whether Congress would approve or fund the academy.

The concept has a prior policy precedent. Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s plan for the Trump administration, proposed exploring a Space Force Academy to attract aerospace students, engineers and scientists and develop astronauts. The plan described attaching the institution initially to a major research university and eventually creating a standalone academy comparable to the existing service academies.

Isaacman connected the administration’s broader space goals to planned lunar missions, a future Moon base, nuclear power in space and the growth of the orbital economy. The commission’s report is expected to address the academy’s proposed educational mission, admissions requirements, service obligations and relationship to the existing space workforce.