WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump boasted Monday of the US commercial space industry´s deep wallet and enterprising spirit, and vowed US dominance in exploration of the Moon and Mars, as well as any future space race.



"America will always be the first in space," Trump said during a speech at the White House.

"We don´t want China and Russia and other countries leading us. We´ve always led," he added.

"My administration is reclaiming America´s heritage as the world´s greatest space-faring nation."

The US president called for the Pentagon to create a new America "Space Force" that would become the sixth branch of the American military but requires Congressional approval to take effect.

The idea, which Trump has floated before, has stoked controversy at the Pentagon and among lawmakers.

"We are going to have the Air Force, and we are going to have the Space Force, separate but equal," Trump said.

Details about the role and timing of any new space force were not immediately clear. However, the creation of a new branch of the military cannot happen from one day to the next, as Congress would have to pass a law authorizing it first.

The US armed forces currently consist of the Army, Air Force, Marines, Navy and Coast Guard.

"When it comes to defending America it is not enough to merely have an American presence in space, we must have American dominance in space," Trump said at the start of the third meeting of the National Space Council, an advisory body led by Vice President Mike Pence.

Since his election, Trump has repeatedly vowed to send people back to the Moon for the first time since 1972, in preparation for the first human missions to Mars in the coming decades.

He has also promised fewer regulations, so as to speed up the process private industries must go through before launching a rocket or satellite.

The US commercial space sector is booming, while NASA has shifted from its role as a launcher of rockets during the Apollo era (1961-1972) and the space shuttle era (1981-2011) to mainly a client.

The US space agency has contracted SpaceX and Orbital ATK to ferry supplies to the International Space Station since 2012.

NASA has been unable to send astronauts to space since the shuttle program ended in 2011, and relies on Russian Soyuz spaceships in the meantime.

SpaceX and Boeing are expected to start regular astronaut missions to low-Earth orbit next year.

Trump wants to privatize the ISS after 2025, another controversial notion in Congress, in order to spend more money on NASA and returning astronauts to the Moon.

"This time we will establish a long-term presence," Trump said.

NASA is working on its most powerful rocket ever, called the Space Launch System, or SLS, to launch astronauts and their equipment to the Moon and one day, Mars.

The US space agency also wants to build a lunar outpost.

But private industry will have a role in that, too. NASA has already sought out mission concepts for delivering materials to the surface of the Moon.

"Rich guys seem to like rockets," Trump said. "As long as it´s an American rich person, that´s good, they can beat us."

Meanwhile, Trump has signed two directives -- one that transfers certain powers from the Pentagon to the Commerce Department, including the regulation of private satellites.

Another directive on space traffic management is aimed at boosting public-private monitoring of objects in orbit so as to avoid collisions and debris strikes.

A statement released by the White House said the move "seeks to reduce the growing threat of orbital debris to the common interest of all nations."

The Defense Department says there are 20,000 pieces of space debris and 800 operational US satellites circling Earth, a number that grows every year.</s>President Donald Trump declared Monday he will move to make a new branch of the military focused solely on space.

"I am hereby directing the Department of Defense and Pentagon to immediately begin the process necessary to establish a space force as the sixth branch of the armed forces," Trump said during a meeting of the National Space Council.

"Our destiny beyond the Earth is not only a matter of national identity but a matter of national security," Trump said.

"Our Policy Board will begin working on this issue, which has implications for intelligence operations for the Air Force, Army, Marines and Navy," Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said in a statement. "Working with Congress, this will be a deliberate process with a great deal of input from multiple stakeholders."</s>President Donald Trump declared Monday he would move to make a new branch of the military focused solely on space.

"I am hereby directing the Department of Defense and Pentagon to immediately begin the process necessary to establish a Space Force as the sixth branch of the armed forces," Trump said during a meeting of the National Space Council.

"Our destiny beyond the Earth is not only a matter of national identity but a matter of national security," Trump said.

He first floated the idea of a Space Force as a part of his national security strategy during a speech on March 13, saying "space is a war-fighting domain, just like the land, air, and sea." The president described then how he'd originally coined the term as a joke, while discussing U.S. government spending and private investment in space.

"We have the Air Force, we'll have the space force," Trump said in March.

As it turns out, the Space Force sounds a lot like the space corps legislation the Trump administration opposed last year.

In June, the House Armed Services Committee proposed the establishment of a space corps, a new branch of the U.S. military that would fall under the command of the Air Force, in the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA. This latest military service would relate to the Air Force similar to how the Marine Corps serves the Department of the Navy. The space corps would have an area of responsibility that encompasses the vast expanse outside of the Earth's atmosphere.

At the time, the White House, the Air Force as well as Secretary of Defense James Mattis disapproved of the idea to create a sixth branch of the military.

"I oppose the creation of a new military service and additional organizational layers at a time when we are focused on reducing overhead and integrating joint warfighting efforts," Mattis wrote in a letter to the House and Senate Armed Services Committees.

While the legislation passed the House, the space corps bid did not make it into the final NDAA bill in November.</s>President Donald Trump announced Monday that he has ordered the creation of a new military branch, adding the "Space Force" to the Army, Navy, Marine, Air Force, and Coast Guard.

"It is not enough to merely have an American presence in space, we must have American dominance in space. Very importantly I'm hereby directing the Department of Defense and Pentagon to immediately begin the process necessary to establish a space force as the sixth branch of the armed forces, that is a big statement," Trump said at a meeting of the National Space Council on Monday. "We are going to have the Air Force and we are going to have the space force, separate but equal, it is going to be something."

NEW: Pres. Trump says he is directing the Department of Defense and the Pentagon to "establish a space force as the sixth branch of the armed forces." "We must have an American dominance in space." https://t.co/dMeVjlPoyT pic.twitter.com/a59t6cFHWv — Evan McMurry (@evanmcmurry) June 18, 2018

This is a developing story. Please refresh for updates.</s>President Donald Trump declared Monday he would move to make a new branch of the military focused solely on space.

"I am hereby directing the Department of Defense and Pentagon to immediately begin the process necessary to establish a space force as the sixth branch of the armed forces," Trump said during a meeting of the National Space Council.

"Our destiny beyond the Earth is not only a matter of national identity but a matter of national security," Trump said.

He first floated the idea of a space force as a part of his national security strategy during a speech on March 13, saying "space is a war-fighting domain, just like the land, air, and sea,"

This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.</s>With this migration will come new challenges, including military ones. Since it is very unlikely nations going to space will put their centuries-old rivalries aside, the creation of armed forces capable of tackling space-based military challenges is a must.In the U.S., talk of a so-called space force has been around for some time now. Last June, the House Armed Services Committee’s proposal for the creation of a space corps, part of the Air Force, was not taken seriously enough to be included in the National Defense Authorization Act.Or perhaps it was, but it needed more scrutiny for better understanding before getting a green light from the man himself.Speaking at a National Space Council on Monday, U.S. president Donald Trump said the country would not let Russia and China lead America in this new race. To stop that from happening, Trump said he ordered the Pentagon to “begin the process of establishing a space force as the sixth branch of the armed forces.""Our Policy Board will begin working on this issue, which has implications for intelligence operations for the Air Force, Army, Marines, and Navy," Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said in a statement cited by CNBC "Working with Congress, this will be a deliberate process with a great deal of input from multiple stakeholders."For the moment, there is no information on how exactly the space force would be structured.The addition of a new branch to the U.S. military marks the first time in over 70 years when such an event takes place. The most recent part of to the armed forces roster was the Air Force. Despite being founded in 1907, it became a self-sustaining branch only in 1947.</s>President Donald Trump announced Monday that he has ordered the creation of a new military branch, adding the "Space Force" to the Army, Navy, Marine, Air Force, and Coast Guard.

"It is not enough to merely have an American presence in space, we must have American dominance in space. Very importantly I'm hereby directing the Department of Defense and Pentagon to immediately begin the process necessary to establish a space force as the sixth branch of the armed forces, that is a big statement," Trump said at a meeting of the National Space Council on Monday. "We are going to have the Air Force and we are going to have the space force, separate but equal, it is going to be something."

Trump has previously said that he included a Space Force as part of his national space strategy but also said in March that he not really serious about the idea.
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Military officials, including Defense Secretary James Mattis, have pushed back on the idea the military should have a separate space force.

The Space Corps – as it's been called – was in the House's version of the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act but later dropped in conference.

In a letter last summer to Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, who spearheaded the congressional effort against the Space Corps, Secretary of Defense James Mattis said he was opposed to the idea.

"At a time when we are trying to integrate the department's joint warfighting functions, I do not wish to add a separate service that would likely present a narrower and even parochial approach to space operations," Mattis wrote.

Testifying in March before the House Armed Services Committee, the former deputy assistant secretary of defense for space policy also pushed back on the creation of a separate Space Corps.

"Space is a different kind of domain than air," Doug Loverro told members of Congress during a hearing on space warfighting readiness. "We don't need to move it out of the Air Force in order to go ahead and create the space-smart civilian and military force that we need."</s>US President Donald Trump on Monday ordered the Pentagon to create a new US " space force ," which he said would become the sixth branch of the American military."I'm hereby directing the DOD (Department of Defense) and Pentagon to immediately begin the process necessary to establish a space force as the sixth branch of the armed forces," Trump said at the start of a meeting of the National Space Council "That's a big statement. We are going to have the Air Force, and we are going to have the space force, separate but equal."</s>The White House is establishing a new policy for reducing satellite clutter in space.

The White House is establishing a new policy for reducing satellite clutter in space.

President Donald Trump announced on Monday he has directed the Pentagon to create a sixth branch of the military. (Source: CNN/file)

(RNN) - President Donald Trump announced on Monday he's directing the Pentagon to begin a sixth branch of the military - "space force."

Trump said the new military branch would be a "separate but equal" branch of the military, the Associated Press reported. This would increase the number of military branches from five to six.

If the phrase "separate but equal" sounds familiar, it's a policy of segregation upheld in by the Supreme Court's 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson decision and overturned by the court's 1955 Brown v. Board of Education decision.

The president said he wants the new military branch because he didn't want "China and Russia and other countries leading us."

He was joined in the announcement by Vice President Mike Pence, new NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine, former astronaut Buzz Aldrin and members of his space council.

"I am a big believer you will go out there and take that frontier, which is largely unknown, by man or woman, and you will learn everything there is to know about it, and what you are doing is so important," Trump said.

A mission to Mars will happen "very quickly," possibly because "rich guys" like rockets, the president said.

"As long as it's an American rich person, that's good. They can beat us," he said. "We'll save a little money and they can beat us and we're taking full credit."</s>President Donald Trump announced plans for the creation of a separate “Space Force” branch of the military on Monday, despite America’s years-long reliance on Russia to send astronauts into orbit.

“We must have American dominance in space,” Trump said at a meeting of the National Space Council. “Very importantly, I am hereby directing the Department of Defense and Pentagon to immediately begin the process necessary to establish a Space Force as the Sixth Branch of the Armed Forces. That’s a big statement.”

Trump stressed the new Space Force would be “separate but equal” from the Air Force, which currently deals with military issues outside of the earth’s atmosphere while NASA is in charge of civilian projects.

“It is going to be something,” Trump said.

Since the end of the shuttle program in 2011, NASA has contracted with the Russian space program to take astronauts on missions to the International Space Station. The U.S. currently has no vessels in service that are able to carry humans into space.

The latest U.S. astronaut to take a Russian Soyuz capsule to the Space Station is Serena M. Auñón-Chancellor, who flew on the Soyuz MS-09 on June 6.

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, a former astronaut himself, was skeptical the idea could get off the ground.

“The president told a U.S. general to create a new Space Force as [the] sixth branch of military today, which generals tell me they don’t want,” Nelson said on Twitter. “Thankfully the president can’t do it without Congress because now is NOT the time to rip the Air Force apart. Too many important missions at stake.”

The Air Force had no immediate comment.

In May, following an offhand comment by Trump about the possible creation of a Space Force, Sean O’Keefe, NASA administrator and Navy secretary under President George W. Bush, said Trump's own defense secretary and Air Force secretary argued vociferously against it when members of Congress pushed it last year.

According to the Associated Press, O’Keefe said some people may argue that a space force would “compromise the sanctity of considering space to be off limits from warfare.”
US President Donald Trump directs the Department of Defense to begin the process of establishing a "space force" as the sixth military branch of the United States Armed Forces.