United States Space Force
Updated: Wikipedia source
The United States Space Force (USSF) is the space service branch of the United States Department of Defense, and was established on 20 December 2019. It is one of the six armed forces of the United States and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the second independent space force to have been formed, after the Russian Space Forces; together with that of China, it is one of only two still extant. 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 Gulf War, which has been referred to as the "first space war". The Strategic Defense Initiative and creation of Air Force Space Command in the 1980s marked a renaissance for military space operations. Proposals for a U.S. Space Force were first seriously considered during the Reagan administration as part of the Strategic Defense Initiative. Congress began exploring establishing a Space Corps or Space Force in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The idea of establishing a Space Force was revived 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 first Trump Administration. The Space Force is organized as part of the Department of the Air Force alongside the U.S. Air Force, a coequal 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 towards a fully independent Department of the Space Force, led by a civilian secretary of the Space Force.