As his impeachment hearings roll on, it was easy to miss the news that the US President unveiled the logo for his long-awaited military space branch on Twitter, but social media users quickly noticed a striking resemblance – to Star Trek’s fictional Starfleet Command logo.
Trump tweeted that he had consulted with military leaders and designers before deciding on the blue-and-white symbol, which features an arrowhead shape centred on a planetary background and surrounded by the words ‘United States Space Force’ and ‘Department of the Air Force’.
“Really?” one person wrote in response. “I hope you get sued for copyright infringement. Is there no one with a brain in the White House? I mean really.”
Even George Takei, who played Mr Sulu in the original Star Trek TV series and films, replied to the tweet: “Ahem. We are expecting some royalties from this.”
Space Force is the first new US military service since the Air Force was created in 1947 and was signed off on by the President last month.
Disappointingly, it’s not as exciting as it sounds – the military branch is expected to protect US satellites and other space assets, rather than take troops into space to engage in combat.
There goes my ‘Star Wars’ fantasies.
