U.S. Troops in Space!

Space Force: Enlist and Blast Off Today!

Military troops in the Space Force will someday deploy to orbit, one of the service’s top operations officials said Sept. 29.

‘At some point, yes, we will be putting humans into space,’ Maj. Gen. John E. Shaw, head of the Space Force’s Space Operations Command and part of U.S. Space Command leadership, said during a conference organized by the AFWERX innovation group. ‘They may be operating command centers somewhere in the lunar environment or someplace else.’

Space Force officials, wary of being confused with NASA, usually shy away from questions about whether military personnel will go to the Final Frontier themselves. Experts have split on whether a Space Force astronaut corps is a good idea in the next couple of decades, if at all.

— “Space Force Will Eventually Put Troops in Orbit, Ops Boss Says,” Rachel S. Cohen, Air Force Magazine

Note: Space Force Chief of Space Operations Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond is among the senior U.S. military leaders in self-quarantine due to COVID-19 exposure at the White House.

Related:

“Space Force Fears COVID Loss Of Commercial Startups: Gen. Thompson,” Theresa Hitchens, Breaking Defense

Update:

“U.S. Space Force unveils lapel pins for U.S. Air Force uniforms,” Ed Adamczyk, UPI

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Space Force: Countdown to Blast Off!

U.S. Space Operations Force. Enlist now!

“‘I said maybe we need a new force, we’ll call it the Space Force,’ Trump said at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in March 2018. ‘And I was not really serious. Then I said,’What a great idea, maybe we’ll have to do that.'”

“Now, key lawmakers leading the charge have the support they need to make a new U.S. space service a reality. The House and the Senate have both proposed plans for Space Force in their versions of the annual defense bill.

And next month, a congressional conference committee could hammer out a final blueprint in its approval of the fiscal year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act.”

— “With Congressional Blessing, Space Force Is Closer To Launch,” Claudia Grisales, NPR News

Update:

“US Launches Space Command Today,” Carla Babb, VOA

Related:

“Why the Space Force Is Just Like Trump University,” Erin Durkin, The Atlantic

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Ted Cruz and the Space Pirates!

Shiver me timbers, matey! Senator Ted Cruz says we need a Space Force to protect us from space pirates:

“Since the ancient Greeks first put to sea, nations have recognized the necessity of naval forces and maintaining a superior capability to protect waterborne travel and commerce from bad actors. Pirates threaten the open seas, and the same is possible in space. In this same way, I believe we too must now recognize the necessity of a Space Force to defend the nation and to protect space commerce and civil space exploration.”

The CBO says the initial bill to launch the Trump Space Force is $2 billion of your tax dollars, but independent estimates rocket start-up costs closer to $5 billion. Maybe we could defray the expense by licencing the film rights to Netflix. After all, the Cruz space pirate plot treatment is sure getting lots of buzz on Twitter.

More:

“Cruz warns ‘Space Force’ needed to prevent space pirates,” Owen Daugherty, The Hill

“Space Genius Ted Cruz Is Super Worried About Space Pirates Stealing our Space Booty,”
Jason Torchinsky, Foxtrot Alpha

“US Senator Ted Cruz irked by ‘space pirate’ ridicule,” BBC News

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Image: (“Ted Cruz & the Space Pirates, after Louis S. Glanzman”) by Mike Licht.  Download copies here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com.

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

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