U.S. Space Force
Every Cosmic Herald story on U.S. Space Force — missions, launches, discoveries, and the business of space, newest first.
-
Military Space
Space Force Quietly Stands Up Its Ninth Component, This One for Special Operations Command
The Space Force activated SPACEFOR-SOC, its ninth component field command, on Oct. 7, more than 18 months after SOCOM revealed the plan and after Congress paused it. A formal ceremony is still to come, and the service has not yet named a commander.
-
Military Space
SDA's Fourth Tranche 1 Launch Flies After Five-Day Scrub, Putting 21 Northrop Grumman Data Satellites in Orbit
Five days after an automated abort, a Falcon 9 lifted 21 Northrop Grumman Transport Layer satellites from Vandenberg on Oct. 10. That brings the Space Development Agency to 84 of the 126 data-relay satellites planned for Tranche 1, with five of nine launches still to go.
-
Military Space
Falcon Heavy Flies Its First NRO Mission, Reusing Roman's Side Boosters a Month Later
The NRO's first Falcon Heavy launch, NROL-97, lifted off Oct. 1 on side boosters that had flown NASA's Roman telescope a month earlier and a fairing from NROL-95, and it closed out SpaceX's first day with four booster landings.
-
Military Space
Final-Minute Scrub Holds Up SDA's Fourth Tranche 1 Launch; Falcon 9 Now Aiming for Oct. 8
SpaceX called off the Space Development Agency's T1TL-A launch of 21 Northrop Grumman data-transport satellites in the final minute of Monday's count at Vandenberg, and the next try is set for Thursday, Oct. 8.
-
Military Space
Britain Launches Its First Squadron Built to Fight in Space
The RAF stood up No. III Space Effects Squadron on Sept. 23, 2026 — the UK's first unit built to disrupt, degrade and deny threats to British satellites, backed by £880 million in new funding.
-
Military Space
The Pentagon Just Admitted the US Has Weapons in Orbit
Air Force Secretary Troy Meink told a September 14 conference that the US now operates "on-orbit space control weapons," the most direct public acknowledgment yet of an armed American presence in space.
-
Military Space
After Burning $6.27 Billion on OCX, the Space Force Starts Over on GPS Ground Control
Five months after killing the $6.27 billion OCX program, the Space Force is starting work on a new GPS ground-control architecture while a Lockheed Martin stopgap keeps the constellation flying.
-
Military Space
Gen. Douglas Schiess Sworn In as Space Force's Third — and First Four-Star — Chief of Space Operations
Gen. Douglas Schiess became the Space Force's third Chief of Space Operations and first four-star general in a Sept. 3 ceremony at Joint Base Andrews, succeeding Gen. Chance Saltzman.
-
Military Space
Schiess Confirmed as Third Chief of Space Operations as Saltzman Prepares to Hand Over Command
The Senate confirmed Lt. Gen. Douglas Schiess as the Space Force's third Chief of Space Operations, with a Sept. 3 ceremony at Joint Base Andrews set to formally end Gen. Chance Saltzman's nearly four-year tenure.
-
Military Space
Trump Signs Order to Create a U.S. Space Academy
A new executive order tasks a NASA-chaired commission with designing, in just 120 days, a federal academy meant to train engineers, operators, and future Space Force Guardians.
-
Military Space
Space Force Honor Guard Debuts Its First Original Ceremonial Uniform
Seven years after standing up, the Space Force Honor Guard has traded its borrowed Air Force dress for a uniform of its own, unveiled publicly at the Freedom 250 Grand Prix in Washington, D.C.
-
Military Space
Space Force Stands Up Its First Squadron Built to Both Listen and Jam
The newly activated 1st Electromagnetic Warfare Squadron pairs a decades-old signal-detection system with a brand-new mobile jammer, staffed largely by Air National Guard veterans who transferred into the Space Force last fall.
