President Trump: We gather here on these storied grounds to celebrate the immense courage and service of Four Intrepid Space Heroes, whose sense of daring and adventure led them further from Earth than anyone has ever traveled before.

President Trump: From the very beginning, America has always been a frontier nation, and space is the highest of all the frontiers. Our Manifest Destiny is to explore and settle this great unknown, carry forward the light of American Liberty into the stars. And Americans were the first in flight, the first at moon, and we'll certainly be the first in space, no matter where it is, and I know we're going to be looking at Mars very shortly. In fact, you're already partially there. A lot of works been done, and that seems to be the next frontier. You'll be stopping on the Moon, and you're going to be going to Mars. What excitement. What excitement, Yet when I took office in 2017, America's endeavors in space had come to a complete halt. It was held back by decades of gross mismanagement in Washington.

President Trump: It's clear that we will need to educate and train an entire generation of skilled servicemembers, engineers, civil operators, and everything else, to do what we have to do, and what we're right now doing, the best, and we'll continue, and I think by leaps and bounds, and that's why in a few moments I will sign an executive order to begin the process of creating a new national academy. It's called the U.S. Space Academy. That's a big deal. So you think of West Point, and you think of Annapolis, and you think of the Air Force Academy, and you think of the Coast Guard Academy; they're all great. But now we're going to have a Space Force. We're going to have an academy for what the people in this room love the most.

President Trump: So with unmatched bravery and unwavering faith, these four extraordinary astronauts renewed the legacy of the pioneers and explorers who chartered the world's oceans, climbed it's highest summits, and tamed the American West. Great people. Great men and women, Incredible. That spirit is written into the soul of our nation, and in the daring deeds of these heroes, we're reminded that for America, no aim is too high, no journey is too far, no challenge is too tough. In this country, we're limited only by the size of our aspirations and the scale of our dreams. We have the American Dream, and the American Dream is back.