Washington, Aug. 14 -- President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday easing regulations for the private space industry, including eliminating some environmental reviews, in a move likely to boost his erstwhile advisor Elon Musk.

The executive order is aimed to "substantially" increase the number of space launches in the United States.

Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has talked up several space missions including sending humans to the Moon and Mars.

The Moon and Mars missions are planned to get a ride on the massive Starship rocket of Musk's private firm SpaceX.

However, Starship has had a series of setbacks, with its latest routine test ending in a fiery explosion in June.

SpaceX dominates the g...