SpaceX CEO Elon Musk Backs President Donald Trump’s Space Force Plan


SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has revealed in an interview that he supports the creation of a space force proposed by President Donald Trump.

The United States Space Force is proposed to be the sixth branch of the United States military by the year 2020. It will be on par with the navy, army, air force, marines and coast guard.

The plan is to build an elite group of war fighters drawn from various branches of the military that will be dedicated to fighting wars in space.

Critics have questioned the need for creating a new branch of the military dedicated to battlefields in space.

Retired NASA astronaut Mark Kelly, who is a former Navy pilot and combat veteran, is one of those who is not amenable to the idea. In a Twitter post, Kelly even described the creation of the Space Force as a “dumb idea” since the job is already covered by the Air Force.

“What’s next, we move submarines to the 7th branch and call it the ‘under-the-sea force?'” Kelly tweeted in June.

Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida also warned that the Space Force could rip the Air Force apart.

It appears though that not everyone is opposed to the idea. It turns out that Trump’s proposal is getting support from Musk, who has interests in the space industry.

In a Recode Decode interview on Friday, the billionaire said that he likes the idea of the Space Force and even thinks it is “cool.”

Musk sees an apparent needs for the new branch of the US Armed Forces as Americans travel off the planet. He also likened the need for the Space Force to the original need for the Air Force many years ago.

He cited that there was a lot of brouhaha when the Air Force was formed because the aircraft in World War II was managed by the military.

“People today may not realize back then it was wildly panned as a ridiculous thing to create the Air Force, but now everyone’s like, ‘Obviously you should have an Air Force.’ And I think it’s gonna become obvious that we should have a Space Force, too,” Musk told Kara Swisher during the interview.

Musk said that the Space Force is basically defense in space and may even be helpful in expanding the human civilization.

“I do think it will become obvious over time that a Space Force is a sensible thing to do.”

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