History of the United States Space Force

The Army and Navy, without the sponsorship of DARPA, still held ambitions for crewed military spaceflight, with the Army Ballistic Missile Agency proposing Project Adam where an astronaut would be launched on a sub-orbital trajectory on a Juno II rocket, however it received no support, being liked to "about the same technical value as the circus stunt of shooting a young lady from a cannon" by NACA director Hugh Latimer Dryden and was outright rejected by the Defense Department.

The Air Force executed an intensive lobbying campaign within Congress, the Defense Department, and NASA, relying heavily on its rationale that it was an Aerospace service and that the missions it intended to perform in space were a logical extension of its atmospheric responsibilities.

It also argued that the Air Force should be responsible for providing common interests items, such as space launch boosters and satellites, to NASA, enabling the civil agency to focus its budget and efforts entirely on scientific endeavors.

In April 1959, General Schriever testified before congress that the Air Force's responsibilities for strategic offensive and defensive missions would be, in part, conducted by ballistic missiles, satellites, and spacecraft.

[1] Although NASA was responsible for most crewed spaceflight, the Air Force Ballistic Missile Division continued with the development of the Boeing X-20 Dyna-Soar orbital glider.

It was considered using the Saturn I booster with the X-20, as was proposed by von Braun a number of times, but this was rejected due to concerns that that project would be transferred to NASA, as was the Man in Space Soonest program.

General LeMay remarked how the initial use of airplanes in the First World War moved from peaceful, chivalric, unarmed reconnaissance flights to combat efforts designed to deny the enemy air superiority, and that it would be naïve to believe that the same trends were not expected to be seen and prepared for in space.

Specifically, it recommended continuing the Discoverer/Corona program, MIDAS, Samos, and Blue Scout research vehicle at their present pace, while accelerating efforts to develop orbital weapons, and an anti-satellite and anti-missile defense system.

[1] On 11 June 1962, The New York Times broke the story about the SAINT program, creating a political firestorm by claiming that the Air Force was intent on weaponizing space.

[1] The Second World War made apparent the need for military communications over longer range, with greater security, higher capacity, and improved reliability.

On 18 December 1958, it was launched by an Air Force Ballistic Missile Division SM-65B Atlas, broadcasting a Christmas greeting from President Eisenhower in the very high frequency (VHF) band.

In October 1960, the Army Signal Corps launched Courier 1B on an Air Force Ballistic Missile Division Thor-Ablestar and operated in the ultra high frequency (UHF) band.

IDCSP development proved difficult, intended to be launched on Atlas-Agena boosters, due to intensive studies by the Defense Department and Secretary McNamara question if the military needed to operate its own communications satellites, rather than lease bandwidth from the COMSAT corporation.

However, due to funding restrictions it was limited to a single spacecraft and launched on a Titan IIIC from Cape Kennedy Air Force Station on 9 February 1969.

Weather forecasting had been a crucial military capability since ancient times, however rarely were meteorologists able to gather observations over land controlled by a hostile adversary and there was almost always a lack of coverage over the open ocean.

NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration jointly developed the Nimbus program second-generation weather satellites for meteorological research and science.

The Space Systems Division began development of the Defense Satellite Applications Program (DSAP), however because DSAP was intended to provide direct support to Strategic Air Command and the National Reconnaissance Office, its existence remained classified until 17 April 1973 when it was decided by secretary of the Air Force John L. McLucas to use its weather data to support the Vietnam War [clarification needed] and prove declassified data to the Department of Commerce and scientific community.

The initial Spacetrack sensors included the Millstone Hill Radar at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Baker-Nunn cameras at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Edwards Air Force Base, Johnston Atoll, and Oslo, Norway.

[1] The Defense Meteorological Support Program, in particular, proved absolutely critical to the Seventh Air Force, which relied upon cloud-free environments to provide low-level fighter, tanker, and gunship operations.

Moreover, he expressed concern that space systems modernization would not receive sufficient attention with Strategic Air Command, whose primary focus was offensive nuclear bombers and missiles.

In preparation for classified shuttle operations, Air Force Systems Command activated the Manned Spaceflight Support Group at Johnson Space Center.

The Navstar Global Positioning System was nearing the end of its prototyping and validation phase when turned over to Space Command in 1984, with 7 Block I satellites on orbit.

[8] At the activation ceremony was retired chief of naval operations Admiral Arleigh Burke, who had unsuccessfully lobbied for a unified space command twenty-five years prior.

[1][2] At the beginning Operation Desert Shield, the defensive and preparation phase of the war, military communications satellites only provided support for an American administrative unit in Bahrain and two training groups in Saudi Arabia, and no weather, navigation, early warning, or remote sensing support was typically tasked to United States Central Command, requiring time for space forces to be assigned to the region.

[1] Analysts after the war stated that satellite communications forces provided an absolutely crucial capacity, as much of the desert did not have reliable telecommunication networks.

The Army soon realized the critical navigation capability they provided to its ground forces, and put in an emergency requisition for 1,000 GPS receivers and 300 vehicle installation kits.

In 1994, SMC began the development of the Space-Based Infrared System (SIBRS), a missile warning constellation that would serve as the successor of the Defense Support Program (DSP).

The Allard Commission report, unveiled in the wake of the 2007 Chinese anti-satellite missile test, called for a reorganization of national security space, however many of its recommendations were not acted upon by the Air Force.

[24] Following the defeat of the proposal in the Senate, both Representatives Cooper and Rogers heavily criticized Air Force leadership for not taking threats in space seriously and continued resistance to reform.

[48] By 17 December 2019, the House and the Senate, with vote margins of 377–48 and 82–8 respectively, passed a compromise version of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 which included the Space Force.

General Bernard Schriever , father of the United States Space Force and military space.
Test launch of a HGM-25A Titan I intercontinental ballistic missile from Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 19 .
Launch of Explorer 1 on a Juno I rocket from Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 26 .
Shield of Air Research and Development Command , the major command responsible for Air Force space programs.
The establishment of NASA in 1958 decimated the Army and Navy space programs, cementing the Air Force's place as the lead military space service.
The Boeing X-20 Dyna-Soar was intended to be the world's first spaceplane , serving as an interceptor, bomber, and reconnaissance craft.
Launch of a Transit navigation satellite on a Thor-Ablestar .
For much of the 1950s, the Army Ballistic Missile Agency and General Medaris were in direct competition with the Air Force Ballistic Missile Division and General Schriever.
Separation of the Vela 5A and Vela 5B nuclear detonation detection satellites.
The creation of Air Force Systems Command under General Schriever reorganized space research, development, and acquisitions under a single Space Systems Division.
Launch of Mercury-Atlas 6 with John Glenn , becoming the first American to orbit the Earth.
The launched of the Manned Orbiting Laboratory would have resulted in a crewed military space mission.
Initial Defense Communication Satellite Program spacecraft in a payload stack
A Defense Satellite Communications System Phase II satellite in orbit
A Defense Meteorological Satellite Program Block I satellite in orbit
A Defense Meteorological Satellite Program Block 5 satellite in orbit
A Defense Support Program satellite in orbit.
Ballistic Missile Early Warning System radars at Clear Air Force Station , Alaska.
Shield of Air Defense Command, which was responsible for most operational space forces.
Launch of a Titan IIIC , sometimes referred to as the DC-3 of space because of how it increased ease of access to space.
Shield of the Air Force Satellite Control Facility
Shield of Aerospace Defense Command , which sought to be the central space command prior to its inactivation. When it was redesignated in 1967, it added orbits over the Earth to emphasize its space forces.
Shield of the North American Aerospace Defense Command , which was operationally responsible for space defense.
Shield of Strategic Air Command , which was briefly responsible for space forces following the inactivation of Aerospace Defense Command.
Shield of Air Force Space Command , which commanded all Air Force space forces and was the direct predecessor of the U.S. Space Force.
A Defense Satellite Communications System Phase III satellite on orbit.
A Global Positioning System Block II satellite on orbit.
A Milstar satellite on orbit.
Wideband Global SATCOM satellites on orbit.
A Global Positioning System Block III satellite on orbit.
The Space Force's Boeing X-37B spaceplane after landing.
Vice chief of space operations General David D. Thompson swears in the first four enlisted Space Force recruits at the Baltimore Military Entrance Processing Station, Maryland on 20 October 2020.
General John Raymond is the Space Force's first member and chief of space operations.
The United States Air Force Academy commissioned the first 86 Space Force lieutenants on 18 April 2020 from the members of the class of 2020.
Tech Sgt. Brandon Osborne takes the oath of enlistment as one of the first members of the United States Army to transfer into the Space Force on 1 October 2021.