WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump directed the Department of Defense to create a sixth branch of the U.S. military known as the Space Force during the National Space Council meeting Monday at the White House.
Trump opened the third meeting of the re-established Space Council at the White House first speaking about immigration, as thousands of children have been separated from their parents at camps along the U.S. border.
"Immigration is the fault, and all of the problems were having is because we cannot get them to sign legislation and we cannot get them to the negotiation table," Trump said, blaming the Democratic Party. "The U.S. will not be a migrant camp and will not be a refugee holding facility. Not on my watch."
After turning to space exploration, Trump directed the Department of Defense and the Pentagon to establish the Space Force, another branch of the U.S. military that would be "separate but equal" to the U.S. Air Force.
Trump instructed Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford to establish the new branch. Dunford immediately accepted the task.
The announcement, which Trump only took a few minutes to address giving few details, was a surprise to many industry insiders.
Below are Trump's exact remarks from the White House about Space Force:
"Very importantly, I'm here by 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.
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. So important. General Dunford, if you would carry that assignment out, I would be very greatly honored, also. Where's General Dunford? General? Got it?
"We got it," Dunford responded.
"Let's go get it, General," Trump said. "But that's the importance that we give it. We're going to have the Space Force."
Sen. Bill Nelson, Fla.-D, said in a tweet that military generals have told him they do not support the idea of another military branch for space.
"Thankfully the president can’t do it without Congress because now is NOT the time to rip the Air Force apart," Nelson said on Twitter. "Too many important missions at stake."
U.S. Air Force officials told News 6 it would not be appropriate to comment at this point so soon after the announcement.
News 6 called and emailed the Department of Defense requesting details about how it would establish this new branch. If they respond this story will be updated.
Trump signs space traffic control policy
The president then signed Space Directive 3, or SD-3, which directs the National Space Council to create space traffic management infrastructure. Trump signed the directive to manage the increasing commercial space traffic and then left the council to continue its meeting.
Vice President Mike Pence, chairman of the Space Council, announced in April at the 34th Space Symposium in Colorado Springs that the new policy would give the Commerce Department, not the Federal Aviation Administration, the authority to direct "space situational awareness data to satellite operators," SpaceNews.com reported.
According to LaunchSpace.com, a continuing education organization for space professionals, it won't be long before a new line of employment opens up similar to air traffic controllers but for space.
Space traffic controllers would "detect and report possible conjunctions between pairs of operating spacecraft and between spacecraft and debris," according to LaunchSpace.com.
Since the late 1950s the number of space debris, or "space junk," has grown to more than 500,000 pieces of debris, according to NASA.
In his opening remarks, Trump addressed several members of the National Space Council User Advisory Board, including representatives of Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Blue Origin, ULA and SpaceX.
Trump encouraged the "rich guys who like rockets," such as billionaires Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, to beat NASA to Mars.
“If you beat us to Mars we’ll be very happy," Trump said. "As long as it's an American rich person it's OK; they can beat us. And we’re taking full credit for it."