Trump directs Pentagon to create 'Space Command'

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday ordered the creation of "Space Command," a new organisational structure within the Pentagon that will have overall control of military space operations.

"I direct the establishment, consistent with United States law, of United States Space Command as a functional Unified Combatant Command," Trump said in a memo to Defense Secretary Defense Jim Mattis.

The new command is separate from Trump's goal to build an entirely new branch of the military called "Space Force," but could be a step in that direction.