President Donald Trump issued a declaration on November 3 calling space a frontier open to all humanity and asserting that American citizens may develop and settle the solar system under US law. The document, titled “The American Declaration of Freedom in Space,” says the United States will lead humanity’s expansion beyond Earth.
The proclamation reiterates goals for NASA’s Artemis program, including returning astronauts to the Moon by 2028 and eventually sending crews to Mars. It does not establish new programs, provide additional funding or direct federal agencies to take specific action.
The declaration invokes the country’s “frontier spirit,” citing the Apollo 11 Moon landing and robotic exploration of Mars as examples of American leadership. It also points to the commercial space sector and says the United States aims to secure “American space superiority for all eternity.”
The document refers to Artemis II, which it says carried four astronauts on a 10-day trip around the Moon in April and set a record for the farthest distance humans have traveled from Earth. Artemis III is scheduled for launch in 2027 to test rendezvous and docking between Orion and two commercial lunar landers in low Earth orbit. Artemis IV, intended to be the program’s first lunar landing mission, is targeted for 2028.
A December 2025 executive order reaffirmed the goal of an Artemis IV landing in 2028 and the deployment of initial elements for a permanent lunar outpost by 2030. The new declaration’s language also echoes principles of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which protects freedom of exploration while prohibiting national sovereignty claims over other planets.
Sources: Space.com.