Trump’s proposed Space Academy aims to educate a new generation of astronauts and engineers

President Donald Trump is proposing the creation of a “United States Space Academy” designed to offer the same type of tuition-free, four-year degree as US military academies.

But rather than requiring active-duty military service, graduates of this federally funded university may fulfill their post-graduation obligations by working at NASA or “as a government civilian,” said a senior space agency official familiar with the matter who requested to speak anonymously to freely discuss ongoing work.

The school would train the “next generation of astronauts, scientists, engineers, operators, entrepreneurs, civil servants, and warfighters,” according to an August 28 executive order to establish the academy, signed by the president.

Details about how this institution would be run and who would be eligible to attend are yet to be determined; the executive order directs a commission — led by NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman — to hash out “key details” by Christmas.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment regarding the plans for the Space Academy.

Before taking the role of NASA chief, Isaacman included a proposal for a Starfleet Academy — a reference to the training school first introduced in the 1960s TV series “Star Trek”— in a document outlining his plans for the agency. Isaacman envisioned it to be “an institution capable of certifying launch and spaceflight hardware for operation, training operators and flight crew members, and certifying the competence of such personnel.”

Some lawmakers have shown a similar interest, such as US Sen. Tommy Tuberville, a Republican from Alabama who floated the idea of a Space Academy during a 2021 hearing . (Gen. John Raymond, then chief of space operations of the US Space Force, told Tuberville at the time he didn’t think it was necessary because the US Air Force Academy was sufficient.)

Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images

The idea, however, appears to be evolving.

“This is a NASA-led, civilian — and a very distinct difference here — federal academy, not a service academy,” the senior NASA official, who fervently supports the space academy concept, told CNN. “This is a way to boost and expand opportunities for the greatest, best and brightest in our nation to expand opportunities to serve.”

Policymakers and experts reached by CNN to discuss the matter largely said that, in an era when space is becoming increasingly militarized and NASA is planning a moon base, there may be some advantages to creating such an institution.

But questions remain: Would Congress approve the project? How would such a school, which could perhaps cost up to $1 billion per year to operate, be funded? And what would its curriculum look like?

When it comes to the question of whether such an academy is necessary, the devil may be in the details, said Dr. Eric Merriam, a professor of legal studies and political science at the University of Central Florida.

A “new Space Academy is only necessary if it provides something existing educational institutions do not, can do it better, or can do it cheaper,” Merriam, who previously was an assistant professor at the Air Force Academy, said via email.

There is one crucial way such an academy could fill an urgent need.

“NASA and other STEM and cyber-focused government entities are experiencing real difficulty competing with industry to recruit and retain talent,” Merriam said, noting that jobs in the private sector, where companies can pay lofty salaries and offer lush benefits, tend to be more attractive.

That’s the key appeal of the Space Academy: Students of such an institution could receive a free education and commit to working at NASA or in another government role. And they wouldn’t necessarily be required to undergo military training or join the armed services after graduation.

“In my view, the most compelling argument in favor of a Space Academy,” Merriam said, “is the potential return on investment to the nation of offering a non-military pathway for top students to receive a high-quality, national service-focused, free college education in exchange for subsequent public service.”

However, “the question,” Merriam noted, “becomes whether a Space Academy, with its associated costs, bureaucracy, and potential for politicization, is preferable to the other potential ways to fill that void.”

Other options for creating a pipeline to NASA, Merriam noted, include government scholarships for students to attend existing institutions in exchange for post-graduation civil service. Federal agencies could otherwise drastically increase the salaries and benefits for such in-demand civil service careers in fields like STEM and cyber.

The senior NASA official, however, argued that scholarships may not be sufficient, and a dedicated institution would showcase how vital subject matter expertise has become.

“All of those other opportunities with scholarships and civilian universities and so on and so forth — those are still going to be there,” the official said. But the Space Academy is “about expanding opportunities.”

The official noted that the United States is in the throes of a new space race as it rivals China to return astronauts to the moon and begin building a permanent lunar settlement.

On several occasions since taking NASA’s top job in December, Isaacman has talked about wanting to draw on lessons learned in the last space race: the 20th century competition that pitted the United States against the Soviet Union.

Just as the Cold War heated up, and the aviation industry matured, the US government established the Air Force Academy, which went from signed legislation in April 1954 to welcoming its first students in July 1955.

Carl Iwasaki/The Chronicle Collection/Getty Images

Now that space technology is evolving to become as strategically important as the aviation industry, the lack of a similar pipeline for space education represents a “big gap,” the official said.

In terms of academic offerings, a space academy likely would not be that different than existing institutions, such as the Air Force Academy, Merriam said.

Current service academies “offer excellent programs in nearly all the same subjects (and more) that the proposed Space Academy would offer,” he said via email.

The issue, Merriam emphasized, is not what service academies are teaching — it’s that graduates of schools such as the Air Force Academy are required to enter military service, including about five years of active duty.

Merriam added that it’s “not realistic” to expect that the problem would be solved if the government began offering students at military institutions the option to enter civil service at NASA.

Allowing those students to choose between military or civil service could hinder existing schools’ abilities to fulfill their primary mission: training leaders for the armed forces.

These academies also require extensive, military-specific physical training that may be “unattractive to many students considering their educational options” in the first space, Merriam noted.

Chet Strange/Bloomberg/Getty Images

But service academies in general face a key problem, he said — one of academic freedom. He previously coauthored a research paper on the topic, which argued that such schools face “distinct challenges” where the marketplace of ideas is “limited by institutional policies that serve a gate-keeping function.”

“Although STEM courses tend to raise fewer academic freedom issues than other subjects,” Merriam told CNN, “even mathematical or scientific inquiry is not immune to stifling external pressures, as Galileo knew all too well.”

“Unless Congress imposes guardrails to protect academic freedom,” Merriam added, “the Space Academy’s curriculum and faculty will be subject to the ideological whims of the politicians atop the Executive Branch.”

US Rep. George Whitesides, a Democrat from California who previously was CEO of commercial space company Virgin Galactic and chief of staff at NASA, shared similar concerns.

“The administration’s war on American science does seem incompatible with setting up a science institution or something related to space science,” he said, referring in part to the White House’s repeated proposals to cut NASA’s science budget by nearly 50%.

Whitesides added that he is not opposed to the idea of creating a space academy, emphasizing that he believes such an institution could prove valuable for many of the same reasons Merriam laid out.

But he also expressed concern and raised questions in a post on social media last week.

Because the executive order determined that the school will be “ NASA-led ,” for example, would the funding come out of the space agency’s budget?

“There needs to be some real discussion between people who are thoughtful and people who are open-minded about the benefits — what we really get out of it — and then what we can afford as a country,” Whitesides told CNN in a Wednesday interview.

(The senior NASA official said that budgetary questions are “to be determined” but that the commission is engaging with both Democrats and Republicans in Congress.)

Existing military academies such as West Point or the US Naval Academy cost about $1 billion to operate each year. And though it would be up to Congress — which holds national budgeting authority under the Constitution — to approve funding for a new space academy, Trump’s executive order did not appoint any congressional representatives to the Presidential Commission on the United States Space Academy, which is tasked with drawing up the school’s plans, Whitesides noted.

US Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a Democrat from California and ranking member of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee told CNN on Friday that the lack of Congressional representation on the commission is “going to have to change.”

When asked if there is a pathway to getting the commission membership to change, Lofgren said she believes there is, noting she is in regular communication with NASA’s administrator.

Kylie Cooper/Reuters

Merriam said that he shares concerns about how much this institution would cost. “It’s hard to imagine the federal government doing something more inexpensively than what is already offered by existing educational institutions,” he said.

Whitesides added that he is suspicious of a White House proposal centered on bolstering NASA-focused education.

He noted that the Trump administration has twice attempted to zero out NASA’s education budget in addition to steep cuts to the agency’s science programs — ideas that Congress has rejected in annual appropriations.

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“How is this all consistent?” Whitesides asked.

Still, he said, he is open to the idea of the Space Academy. He specifically imagines that it could lend a much-needed hand in assisting with government procurement programs — perhaps providing crucial expertise that can help the government spend taxpayer money more wisely when it comes to buying space hardware and services.

“I am a deep believer in the future of space and its importance to humanity,” Whitesides said. “And the idea of creating a place where we develop and train those with the strongest calling towards national service in space is an idea that has some merit.”

唐纳德·特朗普总统提议创建一所“美国太空学院”，旨在提供与美国军事院校相同的免学费四年制学位。

但一位熟悉此事的美国国家航空航天局高级官员表示，这所联邦政府资助的大学的毕业生无需服现役军人义务，而是可以通过在NASA工作或“作为政府文职人员”来履行毕业后的义务。这位官员要求匿名，以便畅所欲言地讨论正在进行的工作。

根据总统于 8 月 28 日签署的设立该学院的行政命令，这所学校将培养“下一代宇航员、科学家、工程师、操作员、企业家、公务员和作战人员”。

该机构的运作方式以及谁有资格参加的细节尚未确定；行政命令指示由美国国家航空航天局局长贾里德·艾萨克曼领导的委员会在圣诞节前敲定“关键细节”。

白宫没有回应有关太空学院计划的置评请求。

在担任美国国家航空航天局（NASA）局长之前，艾萨克曼在一份概述其机构发展计划的文件中，提出了建立星际舰队学院的方案——该学院指的是20世纪60年代电视剧《星际迷航》中首次出现的训练学校。艾萨克曼设想，这所学院将成为“一个能够认证发射和航天飞行硬件的运行、培训操作人员和飞行机组人员，并认证这些人员能力的机构”。

一些立法者也表现出了类似的兴趣，例如来自阿拉巴马州的共和党参议员汤米·图伯维尔，他在2021年的一次听证会上提出了建立太空学院的想法。（时任美国太空部队太空作战部长的约翰·雷蒙德将军当时告诉图伯维尔，他认为没有必要，因为美国空军学院已经足够了。）

Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images

然而，这种想法似乎正在演变。

一位热情支持太空学院理念的美国宇航局高级官员告诉CNN：“这是一所由美国宇航局主导的、民用性质的联邦学院，而不是军事院校，这一点非常明确。这能为我们国家最优秀、最聪明的人才提供更多服务机会。”

CNN联系到的政策制定者和专家就此事进行了讨论，他们普遍认为，在太空日益军事化、NASA计划建立月球基地的时代，建立这样一个机构可能有一些优势。

但问题依然存在：国会是否会批准该项目？这样一所学校每年的运营成本可能高达10亿美元，那么它将如何筹集资金？其课程设置又会是什么样的？

中佛罗里达大学法律研究和政治学教授埃里克·梅里亚姆博士表示，至于是否有必要成立这样一个学院，魔鬼可能藏在细节里。

“只有当新的太空学院能够提供现有教育机构无法提供、能够做得更好或能够更便宜的服务时，它才是必要的，”曾任空军学院助理教授的梅里亚姆通过电子邮件表示。

这样的学院可以通过一种至关重要的方式满足迫切需求。

“美国国家航空航天局和其他专注于 STEM 和网络安全的政府机构在与业界竞争以招募和留住人才方面正面临真正的困难，”梅里亚姆说，并指出私营部门的工作往往更具吸引力，因为公司可以支付高薪并提供丰厚的福利。

这就是太空学院的主要吸引力所在：这类院校的学生可以接受免费教育，并承诺在NASA或其他政府部门工作。而且，他们毕业后不一定需要接受军事训练或加入军队。

梅里亚姆说：“在我看来，支持太空学院的最有力论据是，它能为国家带来潜在的投资回报，为顶尖学生提供一条非军事途径，让他们接受高质量、以国家服务为导向的免费大学教育，以换取他们日后的公共服务。”

然而，梅里亚姆指出，“问题在于，太空学院及其相关的成本、官僚主义和潜在的政治化，是否比其他填补这一空白的潜在方式更可取。”

梅里亚姆指出，其他为NASA输送人才的途径包括政府提供奖学金，鼓励学生就读现有院校，以换取毕业后的公务员职位。此外，联邦机构还可以大幅提高STEM（科学、技术、工程和数学）和网络安全等领域热门公务员职位的薪资和福利。

然而，这位美国宇航局高级官员认为，奖学金可能还不够，建立一个专门的机构将展现专业知识的重要性。

这位官员表示：“所有其他的奖学金、民办大学等等机会——这些仍然会存在。”但太空学院“旨在拓展机会”。

这位官员指出，美国正处于一场新的太空竞赛之中，它与中国展开竞争，力求将宇航员送回月球并开始建造永久性月球定居点。

自去年 12 月担任 NASA 最高职位以来，艾萨克曼曾多次表示希望借鉴上次太空竞赛的经验教训：那是 20 世纪美国与苏联之间的太空竞赛。

随着冷战升温，航空业日趋成熟，美国政府成立了空军学院。该学院从 1954 年 4 月签署立法到 1955 年 7 月迎来了第一批学生。

卡尔·岩崎/《纪事报》收藏/盖蒂图片社

这位官员表示，如今太空技术正发展成为与航空业一样具有战略重要性的行业，而太空教育领域却缺乏类似的培养体系，这代表着一个“巨大的差距”。

梅里亚姆表示，就学术课程而言，太空学院可能与现有的院校（如空军学院）不会有太大区别。

他通过电子邮件表示，目前的军事院校“在几乎所有与拟建的太空学院相同的科目（以及更多科目）中都提供了优秀的课程”。

梅里亚姆强调，问题不在于军事院校教授什么内容，而在于像空军学院这样的学校的毕业生必须服兵役，其中包括大约五年的现役。

梅里亚姆补充说，如果政府开始向军事院校的学生提供进入美国国家航空航天局（NASA）担任公务员的选择，那么期望这个问题就能得到解决是“不现实的”。

允许这些学生在参军或服役之间做出选择，可能会阻碍现有学校履行其主要使命的能力：为武装部队培养领导人才。

梅里亚姆指出，这些军校还要求进行大量的军事专项体能训练，这在第一阶段可能“对许多正在考虑教育选择的学生来说没有吸引力”。

Chet Strange/Bloomberg/Getty Images

但他表示，军校普遍面临一个关键问题——学术自由问题。他此前曾与人合著一篇关于此主题的研究论文，该论文指出，这类院校面临着“独特的挑战”，因为思想市场“受到具有把关功能的制度政策的限制”。

“尽管 STEM 课程与其他学科相比，引发的学术自由问题相对较少，”梅里亚姆告诉 CNN，“但即使是数学或科学探究也无法免受令人窒息的外部压力，伽利略对此深有体会。”

“除非国会设立保障措施来保护学术自由，”梅里亚姆补充道，“否则太空学院的课程和教职员工将受到行政部门高层政客意识形态一时兴起的影响。”

来自加利福尼亚州的民主党众议员乔治·怀特塞兹（George Whitesides）也表达了类似的担忧。怀特塞兹曾担任商业航天公司维珍银河的首席执行官和美国宇航局的幕僚长。

“本届政府对美国科学的打压似乎与建立科学机构或与太空科学相关的机构格格不入，”他说道，部分原因是指白宫一再提议将 NASA 的科学预算削减近 50%。

怀特塞兹补充说，他不反对建立太空学院的想法，并强调他认为，出于与梅里亚姆提出的许多相同原因，这样的机构可能会证明其价值。

但他上周也在社交媒体上发帖表达了担忧并提出了疑问。

例如，由于行政命令规定这所学校将由美国宇航局“领导”，那么资金是否会从该航天机构的预算中支出？

怀特塞兹在周三接受 CNN 采访时表示：“我们需要在有思想的人和思想开放的人之间进行一些真正的讨论，讨论其中的好处——我们真正能从中获得什么——以及作为一个国家，我们能负担得起什么。”

（美国宇航局一位高级官员表示，预算问题“尚未确定”，但委员会正在与国会的民主党人和共和党人进行沟通。）

像西点军校或美国海军学院这样的现有军事院校每年运营成本约为10亿美元。怀特塞兹指出，虽然根据宪法，国会拥有国家预算权，最终是否批准新建太空学院的拨款应由国会决定，但特朗普的行政命令并未任命任何国会代表加入负责制定该学院规划的总统美国太空学院委员会。

美国众议员佐伊·洛夫格伦（Zoe Lofgren）是加利福尼亚州的民主党人，也是众议院科学、空间和技术委员会的资深成员。周五，她告诉 CNN，该委员会缺乏国会代表的情况“必须改变”。

当被问及是否有办法改变委员会成员构成时，洛夫格伦表示她相信有办法，并指出她与美国宇航局局长保持着定期沟通。

凯莉·库珀/路透社

梅里亚姆表示，他也对这所机构的成本感到担忧。“很难想象联邦政府能以比现有教育机构提供的服务更经济的方式开展工作，”他说。

怀特塞兹补充说，他对白宫提出的以加强以NASA为重点的教育为中心的提案持怀疑态度。

他指出，特朗普政府曾两次试图将美国宇航局的教育预算降至零，并大幅削减了该机构的科学项目预算——这些想法均在国会的年度拨款中遭到否决。

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“这一切怎么可能前后一致呢？”怀特塞兹问道。

不过，他表示，他对成立太空学院的想法持开放态度。他特别设想，太空学院可以在政府采购项目中发挥急需的帮助——或许可以提供关键的专业知识，帮助政府在购买太空硬件和服务时更明智地使用纳税人的钱。

怀特塞兹说：“我深信太空的未来及其对人类的重要性。创建一个地方，培养和训练那些最有志于为国家太空事业服务的人才，这个想法很有价值。”