Formation | October 29, 2019 [1] |
---|---|
Founder | Bill "Hippie" Woolf |
Founded at | Colorado Springs, Colorado |
Type | 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization [1] |
Purpose | space, space force, united states space force, united states, ussf, international, space industry |
Headquarters | Colorado Springs, Colorado |
President and Founder | Colonel Bill "Hippie" Woolf, Air Force Space Command (Ret) |
Executive Director | Eric Sundby |
Chief Growth Officer | Colonel (Ret) Matt Anderson |
Website | ussfa |
The Space Force Association (SFA) is an independent, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that serves as a professional military association, space advocacy group, and space education association for the United States Space Force and space professionals at large.
The Space Force Association was established on 29 October 2019, two months before the establishment of the Space Force on 20 December 2019. [1] The Space Force Association compares itself to the Air Force Association, which was established in January 1946 to support the standup of the United States Air Force, which occurred in September 1947. [2]
Since establishment, the Space Force Association has run a number of interviews and podcasts with Space Force leadership and members on the development of the Space Force and on space policy and strategy. [3] [4] [5]
On 9 September 2020, several U.S. senators announced the creation of the Space Force Caucus, which the Space Force Association had been working on standing up since March 2020. [6]
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consist of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. All six armed services are among the eight uniformed services of the United States, along with the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and the NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps.
The National Guard is a state-based military force that becomes part of the U.S. military's reserve components of the U.S. Army and the U.S. Air Force when activated for federal missions. It is a military reserve force composed of National Guard military members or units of each state and the territories of Guam, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia, for a total of 54 separate organizations. It is officially created under Congress's Article 1 Section 8 ability to "raise and support armies". All members of the National Guard are also members of the organized militia of the United States as defined by 10 U.S.C. § 246. National Guard units are under the dual control of state governments and the federal government.
The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) is a United States service academy in El Paso County, Colorado, immediately north of Colorado Springs. It educates cadets for service in the officer corps of the United States Air Force and United States Space Force. It is the youngest of the five service academies, having graduated its first class 65 years ago in 1959, but is the third in seniority. Graduates of the academy's four-year program receive a Bachelor of Science degree and are commissioned as second lieutenants in the U.S. Air Force or U.S. Space Force. The academy is also one of the largest tourist attractions in Colorado, attracting approximately a million visitors each year.
Hampton is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The population was 137,148 as of the 2020 census, making it the seventh-most populous city in Virginia. Hampton is included in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area, the 37th-largest in the United States, with a total population of 1,799,674 in 2020. This area, known as "America's First Region", also includes the independent cities of Chesapeake, Virginia Beach, Newport News, Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Suffolk, as well as other smaller cities, counties, and towns of Hampton Roads.
El Paso County is the most populous county located in the American state of Colorado. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 730,395, surpassing the City and County of Denver. The county seat is Colorado Springs, the second most populous city in Colorado. El Paso County is included in the Colorado Springs, Colorado, Metropolitan Statistical Area.
The United States has eight federal uniformed services that commission officers as defined by Title 10 and subsequently structured and organized by Titles 10, 14, 32, 33, and 42 of the U.S. Code.
United States Space Command is a unified combatant command of the United States Department of Defense, responsible for military operations in outer space, specifically all operations 100 kilometers and greater above mean sea level. U.S. Space Command is responsible for the operational employment of space forces that are provided by the uniformed services of the Department of Defense.
The United States Department of the Air Force (DAF) is one of the three military departments within the Department of Defense of the United States of America. The Department of the Air Force was formed on September 18, 1947, per the National Security Act of 1947 and it is the military department within which the United States Air Force and the United States Space Force are organized.
The United States Army Space and Missile Defense Command (USASMDC) is the Army Service Component Command (ASCC) for United States Strategic Command and United States Space Command. It was established in 1985 as the Army Strategic Defense Command, responsible for ballistic missile defense. In 1992, it merged with Army Space Command to become Army Space and Strategic Defense Command. In 1997, it became an Army Major Command and was redesignated Army Space and Missile Defense Command.
A unified combatant command, also referred to as a combatant command (CCMD), is a joint military command of the United States Department of Defense that is composed of units from two or more service branches of the United States Armed Forces, and conducts broad and continuing missions. There are currently 11 unified combatant commands, and each is established as the highest echelon of military commands, in order to provide effective command and control of all U.S. military forces, regardless of branch of service, during peace or during war time. Unified combatant commands are organized either on a geographical basis or on a functional basis, e.g., special operations, force projection, transport, and cybersecurity. Currently, seven combatant commands are designated as geographical, and four are designated as functional. Unified combatant commands are "joint" commands and have specific badges denoting their affiliation.
The Air & Space Forces Association (AFA) is an independent, 501(c)(3) non-profit, professional military association for the United States Air Force and United States Space Force. Headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, its declared mission is "to educate the public about air and space power, to advocate for the world's most capable, most lethal, and most effective Air and Space Forces, and to support Airmen, Guardians, and their families."
John William Raymond is a retired United States Space Force general who served as the first chief of space operations from 2019 to 2022. The first guardian, he served as commander of the United States Space Command from 2019 to 2020.
A space force is a military branch of a nation's armed forces that conducts military operations in outer space and space warfare. The world's first space force was the Russian Space Forces, established in 1992 as an independent military service. However, it lost its independence twice, first being absorbed into the Strategic Rocket Forces from 1997–2001 and 2001–2011, then it merged with the Russian Air Force to form the Russian Aerospace Forces in 2015, where it now exists as a sub-branch.
The United States Space Force (USSF) is the United States Armed Forces' space service and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is one of two independent space forces in the world.
Space Operations Command (SpOC) is the United States Space Force's space operations, cyber operations, and intelligence field command. Headquartered at Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado, it consists of its mission deltas, and garrison commands.
The United States Space Force is organized by different units: the Space Staff, the field commands, and the space deltas.
While the United States Space Force gained its independence on 20 December 2019, the history of the United States Space Force can be traced back to the beginnings of the military space program following the conclusion of the Second World War in 1945. Early military space development was begun within the United States Army Air Forces by General Henry H. Arnold, who identified space as a crucial military arena decades before the first spaceflight. Gaining its independence from the Army on 18 September 1947, the United States Air Force began development of military space and ballistic missile programs, while also competing with the United States Army and United States Navy for the space mission.
The National Security Space Institute (NSSI) is a unit in the United States Space Force's Space Training and Readiness Command (STARCOM). Headquartered at Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado, it provides space professional military education to the military space professionals in the United States and its allies.
Space Delta 18 is a United States Space Force unit that serves as the National Space Intelligence Center (NSIC). It is headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio and activated on 24 June 2022.
The 319th Combat Training Squadron is a United States Space Force unit responsible for offering advanced military space training. Assigned to Space Training and Readiness Command's Space Delta 1, it offers space warfighting follow-on courses for the four warfighting disciplines in the Space Force: orbital warfare, space electronic warfare, space battle management, and space access and sustainment. Space operators that recently graduated from the 533rd Training Squadron's undergraduate space training undergo a temporary duty assignment at the squadron to train them based on their specific warfighting discipline. It is located at the Moorman Space Education and Training Center, Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado.