The academy idea remains in its formative stages but is likely to include curricula that covers human and non-human spaceflight operations, ground control operations, space vehicle design, orbital debris mitigation, and related disciplines. The goal is to create a new generation of technical leaders who can support ongoing exploration efforts, both in commercial spaceflight and in ensuring that the US government maintains a global lead in doing hard things in space.
This would be an entirely new academy, perhaps similar in design to the US Merchant Marine Academy, which is based in Kings Point, New York. Students would apply after high school for admittance and be taught by leaders in both civil space and commercial space. Students would earn a four-year degree. No location has been chosen for the academy, but it may be sited near existing NASA facilities or workforce expertise. “I’m going to be choosing a location very shortly,” Trump said during his remarks Friday.
Blurring lines between military and civil space?
A former deputy administrator of NASA, Lori Garver, said the idea of creating a space academy could be helpful for the US space program and its future workforce, but she cautioned that not enough is yet known about the details.
