Trump unveils ‘Space Academy’ as US-China race for the Moon heats up

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Friday announced the creation of a new “Space Academy” to train future civilian and military recruits as the United States intensifies its competition with China in space.

Speaking at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Trump said the institution would be modelled on the prestigious US Military Academy at West Point.

“It’s called the U.S. Space Academy. That’s a big deal,” Trump said as he signed an executive order establishing the new institution.

The academy will serve the US Space Force, NASA and the civilian spaceflight industry, Trump said, describing it as a place that would “attract, train, and graduate the very best of our nation”.

The president did not specify where the academy would be located.

Trump has previously highlighted the role of the US Space Force, the sixth branch of the American armed forces, in recent US military operations in Venezuela and Iran.

During his visit to the Johnson Space Center, Trump also presented the Congressional Space Medal of Honor to the crew of NASA’s Artemis 2 mission, which flew around the Moon in April.

US-China space race

Outer space has increasingly emerged as a strategic arena for major powers, with countries competing in both military and technological capabilities.

The United States and China are engaged in a race to land astronauts on the Moon before 2030, more than five decades after humans first walked on the lunar surface.

Trump last week promised a “golden age” of space exploration, calling for an expansion of US space activity, including missions to the Moon and Mars.

The proposed Space Academy is expected to support the development of the workforce needed for the growing US space sector, bringing together military, government and civilian training under one institution.

(AFP)