Dr. JIM SURRELL

The first discussions of creating a military space service occurred in 1958, and the idea was also being considered in 1982 by then President Ronald Reagan. The 2001 Space Commission argued for the creation of a Space Corps between 2007 and 2011. When it was initially created, the United States Space Force became the first new independent military service since the Army Air Forces were reorganized to create the U.S. Air Force in 1947, shortly after WW II.

At a June 2018 meeting of the National Space Council, then President Donald Trump directed the Department of Defense to begin the necessary processes to establish the U.S. Space Force as a branch of U.S. Armed Forces. On February 19, 2019, Space Policy Directive 4 was signed by President Trump, initially calling for the placement of the U.S. Space Force within the Department of the Air Force. The Space Force was eventually established to become the sixth armed service branch of our U.S. military, with Air Force General John “Jay” Raymond named as the commander of new USA Space Force. On January 14, 2020, General Raymond was officially sworn in as chief of the Chief of Space Force operations by then Vice President Mike Pence.

On April 3, 2020, Chief Master Sergeant Roger A. Towberman, formerly command chief of Air Force Space Command, transferred to the Space Force as the Senior Enlisted Advisor of the Space Force, becoming its second member and first enlisted member. On April 18, 2020, 86 graduates of the United States Air Force Academy became the first group of commissioned second lieutenants in the U.S. Space Force. On July 16, 2020, the Space Force selected 2,410 space operations officers and enlisted space systems operators to transfer to the Space Force. The Space Force swore in its first 7 enlisted recruits on October 20, 2020, who graduated from their basic military training on 10 December 10, 2020. In 2020, the Space Force completed its first Officer Training School on October 16, 2020. The Space Force also commissioned its first astronaut, Colonel Michael S. Hopkins, as the commander of SpaceX Crew-1, swearing into the Space Force from the International Space Station on December 18, 2020.

We now have six U.S. Armed Forces including our Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard, and our Space Force. The Space Force is the smallest branch of our six U.S. Armed Forces. Our Space Force consisting of 8,400 military personnel who are responsible for operating 77 spacecraft. Major spacecraft and systems include the Space Fence, Global Positioning System constellation, military satellite communications constellations, the Boeing X-37B Space Plane, our U.S. missile warning system, U.S. space surveillance network, and the Satellite Control Network. Under the Goldwater-Nichols Congressional Act, the Space Force is responsible for organizing, training, and equipping space forces, which are then presented to the United States Space Command, for operational employment.

The United States Space Force overall mission is to be equipped to provide freedom of operation for the United States to effectively operate sustained space operations in space. The U.S. Space Force duties are clearly stated to protect the interests of the United States in space, deter any and all aggression from space and to conduct our own safe and effective space operations.

Further, the Space Force defines its five key responsibilities as follows. 1. Space security, 2. Combat power projection, 3. Space mobility and logistics, 4. Information mobility, and 5. Space domain awareness. The U.S. Space Force will continue to be very beneficial to our country as space technology continues to advance.