The most powerful forces on this planet apparently do not yet suffice - now US President Donald Trump also wants to ensure the military supremacy of his country beyond the earth. He has now set up a new military command for space in the Pentagon. "SpaceCom ensures that America's dominance in space is never threatened," Trump said at a White House ceremony Thursday.
The new command, which is to protect among other US satellites from enemy attacks, is led by Air Force General John Raymond.
But that's not the end of it: Soon there will be a "Space Force" as an independent sixth arm of the US military, announced Trump. He had already raised the idea of space forces a long time ago, but met with little enthusiasm from the Department of Defense and Parliament.
The new Space Force is therefore next to Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps and Marine to the sixth part of the armed forces charged - but initially remains administrative within the Air Force. This has been responsible for most of the military space projects so far. A new branch of the US Army could only be formed with the approval of Congress.
Unhappy memories of the "Star Wars" program are awakened
Since the Cold War, the US has been trying to dominate the universe militarily. To this end, US President Ronald Reagan had developed in the late '80s as a "Star Wars" mocked defense concept to fend off space nuclear missiles. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, these plans for such a rocket shield were less continued.
Trump had already announced in 2017 to want to send astronauts back to the moon and later to Mars. NASA is working on plans to set up an outpost on the Moon.
Since the end of its shuttle program in 2011, NASA relies on private companies to transport cargo to the International Space Station ISS. Trump wants to privatize the ISS to have more money for other Nasa projects like the return to the moon.
