Trump announces 'space force' as new military branch

(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.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford would manage the creation of "space force."

If the phrase "separate but equal" sounds familiar, it's a racial segregation doctrine adopted 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."

Reaction to the news on Twitter varied from humor to disbelief.

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