Currently, the Space Force has control of many different satellites and constellations and will conduct various other space activities, but it must immediately put a focus on developing a Human Space Flight program. While the government has made great progress through commercial companies towards returning astronaut launches to US soil, it is imperative that NASA and the Space Force begin to work together to gain this capability as well.
More specifically, Elon Musk’s SpaceX and the world’s largest aerospace company, Boeing, are the two foremost competitors for carrying out these missions. Now, the US has been looking toward the private sector to finally return to launching astronauts into space from U.S.
Since the retirement of the Space Shuttle in March of 2013, the United States has been sending humans to space through Russia’s Soyuz rocket system in Kazakhstan. The problem? The Space Force does not currently have a single spaceship. However, it may be a while before any member of the Space Force goes to space. Currently, the Space Force is an independent version of the Former Air Force Space Command, still operating under the Department of the Air Force. Now, finally a reality after being brought forward in Congress in 2017 with the bipartisan support of Jim Cooper(TN-D) and Mike Rodger(AL-R). Within the government, there have been discussions of making a military space department since the 80s. The United States Space Force was officially announced as an independent military branch under the United States Air Force on December 20, 2019.