Space Force

[Totoro]

I'm still pissed. Popular Mechanics said I'd have a flying car years ago.

Airplanes are basically flying buses .. how cool is that!


But if you really must:

A bit more recent and friendlier, this one from mr. Page:

Or just an EHang: EHANG|Official Site-EHANG 184 autonomous aerial vehicle


The future is here, it's just unevenly distributed.

 

[frayne]

Not just USAF -- they were a varied group. But yes, all military:

Wasn't Neil Armstrong a civilian when he landed on the moon. I know he had military flight experience in the Korean war but I do believe he was a civilian when to stepped foot on the moon.

As for a space force, just another nail in the coffin to more national debt.

 

[braumeister]

I was talking about the original astronaut corps.

 

[Bir48die]

I'm hoping this means the return of the "Thunderbirds" morning show.

 

[kgtest]

If I was an 8 year old boy this would sound cool. But I'm a grown man and it just sounds expensive and redundant.



Air Force to me is doing just fine. No need to over engineer it. When I was in I was part of the 30th Space Wing. Never been more proud of our accomplishments.

 

[samclem]

I'm hoping this means the return of the "Thunderbirds" morning show.

FAB!

 

[splitwdw]

Don't know much about the military but shouldn't something like this be a part of the Air Force like navy seals or special forces are part of other military branches. Could all of the branches pool their resources to find the best qualified people without creating a separate branch?

 

[Koogie]

I'm hoping this means the return of the "Thunderbirds" morning show.

lol.. I was just thinking "that'd be a great name for a morning cartoon"

"Major Max Power, Space Force"

 

[joeea]

Don't know much about the military but shouldn't something like this be a part of the Air Force like navy seals or special forces are part of other military branches. Could all of the branches pool their resources to find the best qualified people without creating a separate branch?

But with a separate branch, you could have more generals.

 

[Offgrid Organic Farmer]

I served 20-years in the US Navy, mostly on FBM subs. I was a Navigation ET. Many of the Tech Reps I worked with were guys who would alternate 6 months working with subs, and 6 months working for NASA.

I was a mainframe computer system analyst, the computers I worked with maintain inertial navigation systems. We monitored the gravity vortexes of the planet and stellar bodies to navigate by.

When you are locked inside a steel pipe and you submerge, but you still need to be able to accurately navigate around the globe, and be able to launch satellites into orbit, to drop warheads capable of hitting their targets +/- 50 ft. You need seriously accurate navigation.

I averaged 7 months a year underwater during my career.

Every planet in our system pulls on our gravity, enough that we must account for it's mass in our formulas, for us to navigate. We routinely had to interface with astronomers to locate large bodies and estimate their mass.

I do not see where the Air Force has any background in doing these tasks, nor in at-sea command structure.

 

[braumeister]

I do not see where the Air Force has any background in doing these tasks, nor in at-sea command structure.

Much of our space activity, starting with the ubiquitous GPS used by everyone, is run by the USAF.

 

[samclem]

I do not see where the Air Force has any background in doing these tasks, nor in at-sea command structure.

I haven't heard that the USAF is proposing to do any of these things.
I also haven't heard that the proposed US Space Force would take over the nuclear strike mission which is now the responsibility of USSTRATCOM, to be conducted in part by the FBM force (as part of the USN Fleet Forces Command).



The Space Force or whatever it ends up being doesn't have a defined mission statement yet, as far as I know, but most talk has been that it will take over the activities of the Air Force Space Command--launching satellites, maintaining things in orbit, and preparing for the defense of US assets in orbit and the use of space in military operations, as allowed by treaty. The "global strike" assets (to include ballistic missiles) would, as far as I know, continue to be under USSTRATCOM.

 

[Offgrid Organic Farmer]

Much of our space activity, starting with the ubiquitous GPS used by everyone, is run by the USAF.

One of the job offers I had when I retired, was to work in a mobile command-post doing traffic control with our satellites. So much of that is contracted out to civilian corporations, they just need enough guys with clearances and experience.

I am sure that it all falls under some military command somewhere.

After I retired I moved out in the woods to operate a small farm. Not far from the nation's highest power radio transmitter. Callsign 'NAA' at 24000 hz, on NAS Cutler.

When I first got here I went up to tour the transmitter and meet the crew. As it turns out the DOD had gotten nervous with Congress doing BRACs, so they willingly gave up the entire base and gave the operation over to contractors. Since it is no longer a military base Congress can not BRAC it. All they need is to keep one commissioned officer there and a couple nukes [to maintain the power station], all the rest is done by a dozen former-military contractors.

Imagine trying to explain to Congress every year the vital importance of operating a 2 megawatt VLF transmitter.

 

[Chuckanut]

Our parent's fiction is becoming our reality

 

[Gumby]

Not just USAF -- they were a varied group. But yes, all military:

An interesting factoid - the undergraduate institution with the greatest number of grads who became astronauts -- the U.S. Naval Academy. Three of my classmates entered the Astronaut Corps - Brent Jett, Wendy Lawrence and Kay Hire.

Honestly, I think the Navy would be the best current branch of the military to host the Space Force. They will be spaceships after all. In fact, I think the closest analog would be the US Navy Submarine Force. When you deploy on a submarine, you are in a medium hostile to life - open the door or spring a leak and you die. You are also in confined quarters for an extended period of time, often out of communication with the rest of the world, and entirely dependent on the supplies you carry with you and your own ingenuity for survival.

 

[RISP]

As a fan of the original DOOM video game, I'm just disappointed they didn't name them the Space Marines.

 

[joeea]

They will be spaceships after all.

LOL!

If they were called spacecars then maybe the Department of Transportation could oversee the new agency. That would be fun.

 

[Totoro]

I'm hoping this means the return of the "Thunderbirds" morning show.

Maybe not in your morning show, but they've been back for a while now!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderbirds_Are_Go_(TV_series)


I've been to the studios, in New Zealand.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

Don't know much about the military but shouldn't something like this be a part of the Air Force like navy seals or special forces are part of other military branches. Could all of the branches pool their resources to find the best qualified people without creating a separate branch?

LOL!

If they were called spacecars then maybe the Department of Transportation could oversee the new agency. That would be fun.

Or space probes and put proctologists in charge.

 

[Walt34]

Or space probes and put proctologists in charge.

The folks who claim to have been abducted by aliens say it wasn't proctologists....

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

Well, they say there's a ring around Uranus ...

 

[aja8888]

If I was a couple of years younger, I suppose I could apply to sign on with the new Space guys! That would be fun and I could maybe end up with a government pension!

 

[Rustic23]

In 1968 the Canadian arm forces joined into one unit. I always thought this was a great way to save on overhead. Have not seen much on it or how it has worked out. Seems to me the USAF, Navy and Army fight enough turf battles without adding another group.

 

[Koogie]

All five people in our Armed Forces have been cool with it....

 

[NYEXPAT]

The "Coast Guard" never gets any respect here!