Washington: The US president Donald Trump said on Monday “it is not enough to merely have an American presence in space. We must have American dominance in space.” Addressing at the White House, Trump also promised that the US would “return Americans to the Moon” and would eventually send people to Mars.
He ordered Department of Defense and Pentagon to establish a space force as the sixth branch of the armed forces.
Saying that it would be unacceptable to let either China or Russia lead in space, he said he would be directing federal agencies to “implement a state-of-the-art framework for space traffic management”.
According to Trump the ‘Space Force’ would be “separate but equal” to the Air Force. The other five US military branches are Air, Army, Navy, Coast Guard and Marine Corps.