President Donald Trump on Friday debuted the official logo for the United States Space Force, the recently established sixth branch of the military.
“After consultation with our Great Military Leaders, designers, and others, I am pleased to present the new logo for the United States Space Force, the Sixth Branch of our Magnificent Military!” the president tweeted, along with a graphic of the logo.
The unveiling comes after Gen. John Raymond was sworn-in as the head of the newly created Space Force by Vice President Mike Pence last Tuesday.
“The first decision the president made after establishing the Space Force was deciding who should be its first leader,” said the vice president.”I was around when the President made that decision and I can tell you, he never hesitated. He knew right away there was no one more qualified or more prepared from a lifetime of service than Gen. Jay Raymond to serve as the first leader of the Space Force.”
The text of the Defense spending bill re-designating the Air Force Space Command as the Space Force also designated Raymond as its leader.
He previously served as the commander of the Air Force Space Command, which managed a constellation of satellites and developed a policy and programs training frontline space operators.
Pence said Raymond comes from a family with a history of military service dating back to 1865.
According to a press release on the branch’s website, the Space Force — the first newly created branch of the military since 1947 — will be responsible for training, equipping and organizing a cadre of space professionals to “protect U.S. and allied interests in space while also providing space capabilities to the joint force.”
The Space Force will include about 16,000 active duty military personnel and civilian staff reassigned from Air Force Space Command, who are immediately assigned to the service but will undergo a formal transfer process requiring them to volunteer for and re-enlist in their new jobs.
In June 2018, President Trump announced that he was directing the Pentagon to develop a space force to ensure the U.S.’s domination in space.
“My administration is reclaiming America’s heritage as the world’s greatest space-faring nation,” the president said at the time. “The essence of the American character is to explore new horizons and to tame new frontiers.”
“When it comes to defending America, it is not enough to merely have an American presence in space. We must have American dominance in space,” he added. “We are going to have the Air Force and we are going to have the space force, separate but equal.”
The UPI contributed to this report