Executive Order 14369, signed Dec. 18, 2025, directs federal agencies to pursue a space policy that returns Americans to the Moon by 2028 and begins a lasting lunar outpost by 2030. The order was published in the Federal Register on Dec. 23, 2025.
The order says the policy should extend human discovery, secure vital economic and security interests, and expand commercial development. It revokes Executive Order 14056 of Dec. 1, 2021, titled The National Space Council.
| When | Who must act | Required action |
|---|---|---|
| Within 60 days | Science and technology adviser | Guidance on a national space nuclear power initiative |
| Within 90 days | Science adviser, with NASA, Commerce, and the Secretary of War | One combined submission to the President |
| Within 120 days | Science adviser | Proposed revisions to the 2013 space transportation policy |
| Within 120 days | Commerce secretary | Work to assert spectrum leadership |
| Within 120 days | NASA administrator | Align international civil space arrangements with the order |
| Within 180 days | Commerce and NASA | Reform each agency's space acquisition processes |
| Within 180 days | National security adviser | Space security strategy and architecture plan |
| Within 180 days | Secretary of state | Plan to strengthen ally and partner space security roles |
Exploration priorities in the order include a Moon return through the Artemis Program by 2028, to prepare for a later journey to Mars, and initial elements of a permanent lunar outpost by 2030. The order also calls for more sustainable and cost-effective launch and exploration systems, including commercial launch services, with lunar exploration given priority.
On security, the order directs development and demonstration of prototype next-generation missile defense technologies by 2028, under Executive Order 14186 of Jan. 27, 2025, titled The Iron Dome for America. It calls for the ability to detect, characterize, and counter threats to U.S. space interests from very low-Earth orbit through cislunar space, the region between Earth and the Moon, including any placement of nuclear weapons in space.
The order also seeks a more responsive national security space architecture through faster acquisition reform, commercial capabilities, and new market entrants. It directs stronger ally and partner contributions, including more space security spending, operational cooperation, basing agreements, and investment in the American space industrial base.
For the commercial economy, the order sets a goal of bringing in at least $50 billion more for U.S. space markets by 2028 and of increasing launch and reentry cadence. It also calls for spectrum leadership across space applications and a private-sector path to replace the International Space Station by 2030.
Other priorities include nuclear reactors on the Moon and in orbit, with a lunar surface reactor ready for launch by 2030, and better high-value space and Earth weather forecasting. The order also directs work on space traffic management, orbital debris, and positioning, navigation, and timing, and on ground, space, and lunar infrastructure and standards.
The Assistant to the President for Science and Technology must coordinate implementation. Within 60 days of the order, that official must issue guidance, with relevant agency heads, on a National Initiative for American Space Nuclear Power. Within 120 days, the same official must propose revisions to Presidential Policy Directive 26 of Nov. 21, 2013, the National Space Transportation Policy.
Within 90 days, that assistant must combine several products into one submission to the President. The submission must include a NASA plan, coordinated with the budget office and the domestic policy adviser, for the exploration goals, including how to close technology, supply chain, or industrial gaps within available funding.
It must also include reviews by the commerce secretary and the NASA administrator of major space acquisition programs that are more than 30 percent behind schedule, 30 percent over cost, unable to meet key performance parameters, or unaligned with the order, plus planned fixes. A report from the Secretary of War, coordinated with the director of national intelligence and the national security adviser, must cover gaps related to strengthening air and missile defenses and plans to address them within available funding.
Within 180 days, the commerce secretary and the NASA administrator must each reform space acquisition processes to support the priorities and Executive Order 14271 of April 15, 2025, on commercial, cost-effective federal contracts. The order says the reforms should prefer commercial solutions first and generally prefer Other Transactions Authority, Space Act Agreements, ordinary commercial terms, or other streamlined paths. The order defines Other Transactions Authority as the ability to enter agreements other than standard contracts, grants, or cooperative agreements.
Those reforms must also review federal and contract support roles to cut unneeded tasks, reduce duplication, and speed decisions. Commerce is directed to strengthen its own space buying and sustainment so it can collaborate with NASA without requiring NASA to handle the purchase. NASA is directed to align space-focused buying across its centers and activities.
Within 180 days, the national security adviser, with the Secretary of War, the intelligence director, the science adviser, and other agency heads, must put in place a space security strategy and a plan for a responsive national security space architecture. The strategy must address threats from very low-Earth orbit through cislunar space and include a technology plan for detecting, characterizing, and countering possible adversary placement of nuclear weapons in space.
Within the same period, the secretary of state, with the Secretary of War and the intelligence director, must carry out a plan to strengthen ally and partner contributions to U.S. and collective space security. Within 120 days, the commerce secretary must coordinate work on spectrum leadership, including whether to reapportion or share spectrum. Within 120 days, the NASA administrator, with the secretary of state and the science adviser, must see that NASA’s international civil space arrangements support the priorities, including new arrangements and changes to or an end to existing ones where appropriate and consistent with law.
The order revises Space Policy Directive 3 of June 18, 2018, on national space traffic management. It replaces wording that had described certain services as free of direct user fees with wording that they are for, or available for, commercial and other relevant use. Where this order conflicts with an earlier executive order, presidential memorandum, or presidential directive, the order says it controls.
The order says it must be carried out consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations. It states that it does not create a right or benefit enforceable in court against the United States, its agencies, or its officers.
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