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Trump Just Made a Move That Would Make JFK Proud

Jeff Charles
Jeff Charles  |  December 19, 2025 8:00 AM

President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order declaring that the United States would send another team of astronauts to the moon by 2028.

The move is a part of a long-running effort to reassert American dominance over space.

The order would also establish “initial elements of a permanent lunar outpost by 2030” and “the deployment of nuclear reactors on the Moon and in orbit, including a lunar surface reactor ready for launch by 2030.”

The purpose of the order is to ensure America’s “ability to detect, characterize, and counter the full range of security threats to U.S. space interests.”

Trump is directing NASA to use the existing Artemis program as the primary vehicle for this endeavor. The order indicates that this is a crucial step toward sending missions to Mars.

The president also swore in Jared Isaacman, anentrepreneur, pilot, and commercial astronaut, as his NASA administrator.

"A return to the moon. For sure, we want to do that before 2028. In fact, we have a mission, Artemis II, that's set to launch in the very near future,” Isaacman said during an appearance on Fox News. “It will be the first time we send American astronauts around the moon, more than half a century."