To Infinity and Beyond

The U.S. Space Force takes on the new frontier of national security.

Thursday, May 26, 2022 at 03:31 PM ET

Verified

A Falcon 9 rocket launches on Jan. 6, 2020, at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The rocket, carrying an installment of Starlink satellites, was the first official launch of the United States Space Force. [U.S. Air Force photo by Joshua Conti]

Key Takeaways:

The U.S. Space Force (USSF) was established in 2019 to address the increasingly contested and congested space domain, which has become a critical frontier for national security.
Its creation is a direct response to the modernization of military capabilities by adversaries like China and Russia, who are developing anti-satellite systems, hypersonic weapons, and other space-based threats.
The USSF is designed for speed and efficiency, featuring a streamlined command structure focused on rapid capability development and expanding partnerships with the commercial space sector to maintain an advantage.

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The U.S. Space Force (USSF)—the nation’s newest military service branch and the first created in a generation—stands ready to engage in a new era of national defense where commercial space and military interests collide.

Pushing military capabilities “to infinity and be-yond” isn’t exactly new. The U.S. military began space research following World War II and prior to the formation of the Department of the Air Force. Nearly four decades later, the U.S. Air Force (USAF) unified efforts by establishing the Air Force Space Command in 1982. That mission later expanded into cyberspace as well as providing space-based communication and navigational support for U.S. forces deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan.