A few days ago, the brand new United States Space Force took to Twitter to unveil its first utility uniform, and it was met with a deluge of mockery. The reason is very simple: the Trump Administration deemed the best uniform for a force to deal with space was a woodland camouflage print, a pattern employed by Armed Forces worldwide for camouflaging in forests.

Many, many people pointed out the obvious: There are no trees in space. Space does not look like land.

Several people pointed out the uniforms would be useful in operations on the forest moon of Endor, a pivotal location in Star Wars. Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamill, compared the uniform to Harrison Ford’s Han Solo outfits in those scenes (sadly, the uniforms were left wanting).

Soon the hashtag #SpaceFarce was trending too.

All Armed Forces branches have uniforms, so that serving members, positions and ranks can be instantly recognized. The choice of pattern for the Space Force uniform is so that it's aligned with standard Army/Air Force ones, also saving money.

Although people were quick to point out last December, President Trump approved and signed the annual military budget which allocated an enormous $738 billion on military spending during 2020. Of that, $40 million will go to this new branch.

For those asking if the Space Force personnel will be called space cadets, it is unknown at this point. There is only a vague notion of what this military branch will do under the banner of protecting US interests in space. It won't involve excursions into space but it will mainly focus on monitoring and protecting American satellites and systems in orbit using remote and uncrewed technologies, which had people wondering about the necessity of a uniform, let alone a camo one.

This has actually been one of the main criticisms of creating a separate Space Force, as the Air Force has been protecting US space assets for 50 years, particularly those considered of import strategic value, such as Earth observation and monitoring, and telecommunications.

Former NASA astronaut Mark Kelly called the Space Force idea “dumb” and “wasteful”, stating that the Air Force already has a space program. Former Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James called it "a solution in search of a problem." 

There is also wider criticism about the militarization of space, although others argue that the creation of a Space Force changes nothing as low-Earth orbit has been militarized from the very beginning of space exploration.