Donald Trump signs order to create US Space Academy amid space race push

President Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order ??to begin creating a US Space Academy, a new institution modeled 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 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 US  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.