Veteran astronaut and Apollo moonwalker Buzz Aldrin applauded President Trump’s proposed Space Force on Friday, calling it “one giant leap in the right direction.”
“One giant leap in the right direction. #SpaceForce,” the retired astronaut tweeted, quoting Vice President Pence, who unveiled the first steps to establishing the new military branch a day earlier.
The Department of Defense released a report on Thursday to detail how Trump’s proposal for the Space Force could be carried out by 2020.
{mosads}Trump’s reelection campaign later released a batch of potential Space Force logos that could be sold on merchandise, asking supporters to vote on an official one.
Aldrin, who was the second person to walk on the moon during the 1969 landing, has supported Trump’s space initiatives in the past.
He attended a White House ceremony last year when Trump signed a new directive aimed at sending U.S. astronauts back to the moon.
NASA last week announced the astronauts who will take part in the first manned missions to space launched from American soil since the agency’s space shuttle program ended in 2011.
At least one of Aldrin’s fellow astronauts, however, does not support Trump’s plan.
Former NASA astronaut Mark Kelly, who worked on the International Space Station, ripped the new military branch on Thursday.
“The only person that I’ve heard say this is a fantastic idea is the commander in chief, the president of the United States,” Kelly said. “Everybody else says it’s redundant, it’s wasteful.”
“There is a threat out there,” he added, “but it’s being handled by the U.S. Air Force today, doesn’t make sense to build a whole other level of bureaucracy in an incredibly bureaucratic [Defense Department].”