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Fact check: Claim that Trump proposed a 'Space Navy' is false. It started as a parody.

The claim: Trump proposed a Space Navy after water was discovered on the moon

Following reports that water had been discovered on the sunlit surface of the moon, posts emerged on social media claiming the president was looking to expand the nation's presence in space.

“With Moon Announcement, Trump Proposes Space Navy” reads the headline of a screenshot of an article posted by the Facebook page The United States Space Force.

The screenshot features a photo of an aircraft carrier on the moon and President Donald Trump at a press briefing.

The post has since been shared over 4,000 times and has been reposted by other users on Facebook.

USA TODAY reached out to the page for comment.

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Page is a parody account

In the comment section of the post, the page links to an article by The Babylon Bee posted on Oct. 27, a day after NASA’s announcement.

"Trump has already tasked people to design a logo, uniforms, and a space aircraft carrier — though it would in fact be a space spacecraft carrier since there is no air in space," reads the Babylon Bee article.

The Babylon Bee describes its site as “the world’s best satire site, totally inerrant in all its truth claims.”

The page that initially posted the claim defines itself as a “parody page” and notes that it is “in no way associated with the actual ‘U.S. Space Force.’”

More: Trump tweets satirical news story: What is Babylon Bee and is it 'fake news'?

Trump never said this

The Trump Twiiter Archive shows that the president has made no such announcement of any Space Navy since the water discovery.

Trump has also not spoken about a space navy or the moon discovery at any of his recent campaign rallies in Nebraska, and Arizona.

In 2019, Trump created the Space Force, which falls within the Department of the Air Force and elevates existing missions in space from the Air Force, Army and Navy, according to NPR.

Joan Johnson-Freese, a space security expert at the U.S. Naval War College, told NPR that even if there was a war in space, the U.S. Space Command, a separate joint command within the Defense Department, would be in charge.

Our rating: False

The claim that Trump proposed a Space Navy is FALSE, based on our research. The claim originated on the Babylon Bee, a satirical website. There is no evidence that Trump made any sort of proposal after water was discovered on the sunlit surface of the moon.

Our fact-check sources:

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: Notion of a 'Space Navy' started on parody site