US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday to begin creating a US Space Academy. The new institution will be modeled on West Point and other leading US military service academies.

Trump announced the move during a visit to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. The academy will train service members, engineers and civilian operators for the growing US Space Force and commercial space industry. Its creation comes 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”, Trump said.

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

Trump said the spacecraft could be the first in a larger US fleet aimed at making space travel more routine.

(Reuters, bak)