(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump began the process of creating a "US space academy," in a move he said would help bolster military and civilian missions to space.
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Trump signed an executive order Friday alongside NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman during a visit to Johnson Space Center in Houston, where he also honored the crew of the Artemis II for its flight around the moon earlier this year.
The president said the space academy would "serve both the United States Space Force as well as NASA and the civilian spaceflight industry."
He said it would have to "be the equivalent of the others, which are great," referring to US military academies at West Point and Annapolis. "It'll attract, train and graduate the very best of our nation."
Trump said he would announce a location at a later date but suggested that Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, a prominent NASA backer, had lobbied for it to be in his home state.
Trump has taken particular interest in NASA and the country's space-related industries, including proposing ambitious missions to the moon and Mars. He touted his first-term creation of the Space Force as a separate military branch and drew on his vision of more accessible space travel, noting the planned 2028 Mars mission that's set to deploy a nuclear-powered, interplanetary spacecraft.
The president arrived in Houston on Thursday for a Republican fundraiser as his party looks to address voter concerns over war and affordability and to keep its control of the House and Senate in November midterm elections.
--With assistance from Jennifer A. Dlouhy and Josh Wingrove.
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