by President Donald Trump announced the new logo which will represent the newly created “Space Force” to become the sixth branch of the US military complex.
The bill which created the Space Force was passed last December and has caught the imagination of many people in government, not least of which is the President. Sometimes taking credit for the original notion of a Space Force, Trump did not come up with the idea. The House Armed Services Committee first proposed such a branch in 2017.
The design of the new logo for the Space Force has come under some criticism due to its uncanny resemblance to the logo worn by the characters in the Star Trek television show and movie franchise.
Reactions were mostly humorous. George Takei, and actor who played a member of Starfleet, the Star Trek quasi-military, exploratory organization, was quick to comment on Twitter:
“We are expecting some royalties from this…” Takei tweeted.
The culture reporter for the New York Times, Sopan Deb, who is a well-known Star Trek fan, also had something to say about the new logo:
“THIS IS THE STARFLEET LOGO! THE U.S. GOVERNMENT TOOK A THING FROM A TV SHOW AND MADE IT THE OFFICIAL EMBLEM OF A BRANCH OF THE MILITARY.”
Then he adds in a mind-bending, time-traveling kind of way:
“What if….Star Trek is real and Trump invented Starfleet? And that someone was sent from the future to create it today?”
It turns out all the criticism has been misplaced. The new logo is not based on the fictional Starfleet from television, but rather the design was taken from Air Force Space Command, a precursor to the new Space Force. John Noonan, a senior counsel for national security for Senator Tom Cotton and a former US Air Force officer, explained:
“For those excitedly tweeting that Trump stole the Star Trek logo!!!!, the patch on the left was the existing Air Force Command logo. The same one I wore as a Lieutenant in 2005.”
So, at least for now there is no need for anyone to say: “Beam me up, Scotty!”
