WASHINGTON — The U.S. Space Force unveiled its service flag on Friday, when top Pentagon officials presented President Donald Trump with the sixth military branch’s official colors during a private Oval Office ceremony marking Armed Forces Day.

In photos tweeted out by a Reuters photographer, Trump is seen smiling as the Space Force’s senior enlisted leader, Chief Master Sgt. Roger Towberman, holds up the new flag representing the military service charged with carrying out the Pentagon’s space-based operations. The new service was officially stood up in December when the president — who championed the force’s cause even as some Pentagon leaders initially pushed back on it necessity — signed a law mandating its creation.

The brief ceremony was open only to the daily White House press pool, which includes a reporter and news photographer who share details of the event with other media members. The pool photographer, Steve Holland with the Reuters news agency, shared the photo from inside the Oval Office, revealing the black flag for the new service — the first new military branch in 72 years.

Among people attending the ceremony were the Space Force’s top officer Gen. Jay Raymond, Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett, Army Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who said the flag reveal was “a very historic moment,” according to a pool report.

Raymond, the chief of space operations, told Trump that the prominent star design on the black and platinum-colored flag represented the North Star, which “signifies our core value, our guiding light.” (source: https://www.stripes.com/news/us/space-force-unveils-its-service-flag-at-white-house-ceremony-1.629914 )