Elon Musk says he needs to repeat Star Trek by organising a real-life ‘Starfleet Academy’
Multi-billionaire wants to build real Starfleet Academy to train astronauts to fly in ‘epic futuristic spaceships’ to far-flung star systems where they ‘may meet aliens’
Elon Musk says the purpose of his firm SpaceX is to make Star Trek come to life(Image: Getty Images)
Elon Musk said the ‘purpose’ of SpaceX is to ‘make Star Trek real’. The multi-billionaire said he wants the company to set up a real ‘Starfleet Academy’ straight out of the series of sci-fi TV shows and movies.
And he wants to build ‘epic futuristic spaceships’ that will whisk folk to other star systems ‘where we may meet aliens’.
Musk, 54, told cheering staff at the space giant’s HQ in Starbase, Texas, US, he hopes to make ‘science fiction science fact’.
He said: “I’ll tell you just a little bit about the purpose of SpaceX. We want to make Star Trek real. We want to make Starfleet Academy real so that it’s not always science fiction.
“But one day the science fiction turns to science fact and we have spaceships going through space – big spaceships – with people going to other planets, going to the Moon and ultimately going beyond our star system to other star systems where we may meet aliens or discover long-dead alien civilisations, I don’t know.
“But we want to go. And we want to see what’s happening. And we want to have epic futuristic spaceships with lots of people in them travelling to places we’ve never been to before. That’s the goal.”
Musk then introduced US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth who leapt onto the stage making the famous Vulcan hand sign made by late Dr Spock actor Leonard Nimoy in the original Star Trek TV series.
“How about this? Star Trek real,” said the politician as he made the gesture – a raised palm with fingers parted between the middle and ring to form a ‘V’ shape – to the cheering crowd.
In the show it was accompanied by the phrase: “Live long and prosper.”
Musk and Hegseth, 45, spoke from behind a lectern bearing the slogan ‘The Arsenal Of Freedom’ – the name of the 21st episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation aired in 1988.
The Tesla and X supremo is a massive fan of the show which has been appearing on TV and movie screens for almost 60 years.
Musk has hailed it an inspiration for SpaceX’s vision of a multi-planetary society.
He has called it his ‘favourite show’ and wore a Star Trek-themed jacket for a meeting with Argentinian President Javier Milei.
As part of the US military’s focus on utilising the power of artificial intelligence Hegseth announced his department will start using X’s Grok AI platform and Google’s Gemini AI model on every classified and unclassified network in the department.
Former Amazon Web Services executive Cameron Stanley has been appointed the war department’s new chief digital and artificial intelligence officer.
Hegseth stressed the US must ‘win the strategic competition for 21st Century technological supremacy’ in artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, hypersonics, space capabilities, directed energy, biotechnology and long-range drones.
