Donald Trump launches new military 'Space Force'
Updated
US President Donald Trump says he is ordering the establishment of a sixth branch of the military to clear the way for American dominance in space.
Key points:
- Mr Trump said he wants a 'Space Force' to stop China and Russia' from leading the US
- But, the international Outer Space Treaty bars the stationing of weapons of mass destruction in space
- Mr Trump also signed a directive on the management of traffic and debris in space
"It is not enough to merely have an American presence in space. We must have American dominance in space," Mr Trump said before a meeting of his National Space Council.
"We are going to have the Air Force and we're going to have the 'Space Force.' Separate but equal," he said later.
"It is going to be something. So important."
The United States, however, is a member of the Outer Space Treaty, which bars the stationing of weapons of mass destruction in space and only allows for the use of the moon and other celestial bodies for peaceful purposes.
Mr Trump said the US will "be the leader by far" in space and that he wants to revive the nation's flagging space program.
He framed space as a national security issue, saying he does not want "China and Russia and other countries leading us".
Mr Trump also signed a directive on the management of traffic and debris in space.
The announcements were his administration's latest moves to scale up US space exploration.
The United States wants to send robotic explorers to the moon as soon as next year as a preparatory step towards sending astronauts back there for the first time since 1972, a NASA official said on Monday.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is planning a series of lunar missions beginning next year aimed at developing the capacity for a return to the moon, said Cheryl Warner, a spokeswoman for NASA's Human Exploration Directorate.
NASA will work with private companies, which have not yet been chosen, on the missions, Warner said in a phone interview.
He ordered the government last month to review regulations on commercial space flights.
Americans first landed on the moon in 1969, reaching a goal set by former President John F. Kennedy in 1961 and capping a decade-long space race between Washington and Moscow.
Since then, US efforts to explore beyond the Earth's orbit have largely focused on remote spacecraft that do not have human crew members, though American presidents have repeatedly raised the idea of sending human explorers back to the moon or further.
President George W. Bush in 2004 said humans would return to the moon by 2020.
His successor, President Barack Obama, said in 2016 the United States would send humans to Mars by the 2030s.
Reuters/AP
Topics: spacecraft, space-exploration, astronomy-space, united-states
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