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.
The United States Space Force traces its origins to the Air Force, Army, and Navy’s military space programs created during the beginning of the Cold War. US military space forces first participated in combat operations during the Vietnam War and have participated in every U.S. military operation since, most notably in the Persian Gulf War, referred to as the “first space war.” The Strategic Defense Initiative and the creation of Air Force Space Command in the 1980s marked a renaissance for military space operations.
Proposals for a U.S. Space Force were seriously considered during the Reagan Administration as part of the Strategic Defense Initiative. Congress began exploring the establishment of a Space Corps or Space Force in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The idea of establishing a Space Force was resurrected in the late 2010s in response to Russian and Chinese military space developments, resulting in the Space Force’s establishment on 20 December 2019 during the Trump Administration.
The Space Force is organized as part of the Department of the Air Force alongside the U.S. Air Force, its coequal sister service. The Department of the Air Force is headed by the civilian secretary of the Air Force, while the U.S. Space Force is led by the Chief of Space Operations. The U.S. Space Force’s status as part of the Department of the Air Force is intended to be an interim measure toward a fully independent Department of the Space Force, led by a civilian secretary of the Space Force.
