INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Donald Trump also signed a directive on the management of traffic and debris in space.Washington: US President
Donald Trump on Monday said he was ordering the establishment of a sixth branch of the military to clear the way for American dominance of
space."It is not enough to merely have an American presence in space
We must have American dominance in space," 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
It is going to be something
So important," he said later.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.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 U.S
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 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.In December, Trump signed a directive that he said would enable astronauts to return to the moon and eventually lead a
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.© Thomson Reuters 2018(Except
for the headline, this story has not been edited by TheIndianSubcontinent staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
