--- title: Stephen Colbert Guesses Where Trump Got Space Force From description: "Please wait until NASA finds life before you try to kill it," Colbert said canonical: https://time.com/5363845/stephen-colbert-on-space-force/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-08-10T14:07:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:54:16.288Z og:title: Colbert Has a Guess Where Trump's Space Force Idea Came From og:description: "Please wait until NASA finds life before you try to kill it," Colbert said og:url: https://time.com/5363845/stephen-colbert-on-space-force/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt940c56492956fe6a/69893779fb4eacd5ff897579/stephencolbertonspaceforce.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1486 og:image:height: 836 og:image:alt: StephenColbertonSpaceForce og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Colbert Has a Guess Where Trump's Space Force Idea Came From twitter:description: "Please wait until NASA finds life before you try to kill it," Colbert said twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt940c56492956fe6a/69893779fb4eacd5ff897579/stephencolbertonspaceforce.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Stephen Colbert Suspects He Knows Where the Idea for Trump's Space Force Came From > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=8e12efef-6648-4eb8-9904-85b33180989f&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Aug 10, 2018 2:07 PM UTC  by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Aug 10, 2018 2:07 PM UTC Vice President Mike Pence [presented the plan](http://time.com/5363132/space-force-mike-pence-plan/) for Space Force, the newly proposed space-based branch of the military, at the Pentagon on Thursday and Stephen Colbert had a jab about his selection for the job. “Pence is a huge fan of space,” Colbert said on _The Late Show_. “It is the farthest you can get from being alone with a human woman.” Space Force gave the late night talk show host a lot of material to work with for Thursday night’s episode. Colbert joked that the Space Force came from an idea President Trump “got from a Buzz Lightyear Happy Meal toy.” He then played a clip of President Trump waxing on about the new sixth arm of the military. “We may even have a Space Force,” Trump said in the clip. “Develop another one. Space Force. We have the Air Force, we’ll have the Space Force. … Think of that. Space Force!” “Yes, think of that,” Colbert said. “But not too hard, ’[cause it’s stupid.](http://time.com/5352947/air-force-secretary-nobody-supports-space-force/)” “We don’t need Space Force,” he added. “Please wait until NASA finds life before you try to kill it.” Colbert then re-imagined John F. Kennedy’s famous “we choose to go to the moon” speech in the context of the Trump era: “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but to distract from Robert Mueller. Witch hunt!” Colbert also skewered Trump’s enthusiastic tweet that read: “Space Force all the way!” “Space Force, you know I love it,” Colbert said in his Trump impersonation. “I of course would join, but I have space spurs, I can’t do it.” > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1027586174448218113) Colbert was also inspired by an email was sent out to Trump supporters on Thursday afternoon, asking them to vote for their favorite Space Force insignia, even though “the final choice will be made by the Electoral Space College,” Colbert joked. Trump supporters had [six designs to choose](http://time.com/5363058/donald-trump-campaign-space-force-logo/) from but Colbert had a few more ideas to add to the mix, including a special U.S.-Russia logo that read, “In space, no one can hear you collude.” Watch Stephen Colbert spoof Space Force in the video below. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5363845/stephen-colbert-on-space-force/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5363845/stephen-colbert-on-space-force/"},"headline":"Stephen Colbert Suspects He Knows Where the Idea for Trump's Space Force Came From","datePublished":"2018-08-10T14:07:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:54:16.288Z","description":"\"We don't need Space Force. 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