First US Space Force Enlistees Graduate from Basic Training in Texas
Granted it's not the Starfleet Academy, but it's the closest thing we'll see in our lifetimes.
Seven US Air Force basic trainees have marched into history to become the first enlisted members of the US Space Force.
The trainees graduated at the Texas Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland Thursday. They'll transfer to an Air Force base in California, to begin training for their new space force positions.
The San Antonio base will be central to Space Force training, according to Chief of Space Operations Gen. John W. "Jay" Raymond.
"San Antonio plays a big role in this," Gen. Raymond told KENS5. "Just like in the Air Force, we will rely heavily on Air Force training command to help us recruit, help us assess, do that initial training."
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The Texas city is also being considered as the new site of "Space Command," a division of the US Space Force.
The specialized training will include learning how to operate satellites and radar stations.
This summer, the US Space Force deployed a squadron of 20 airmen to Qatar's Al-Udeid Air Base in its first foreign deployment. They were sent to the Middle East because the US faces new threats in the region from Iran's missile program and efforts to jam, hack, and blind satellites.
"We're starting to see other nations that are extremely aggressive in preparing to extend conflict into space," Col. Todd Benson, director of Space Force troops at Al-Udeid, said in September. "We have to be able to compete and defend and protect all of our national interests."
Other world powers like Russia and China already have advanced space programs that have made threatening progress, developing weapons that could knock out US satellites.
The Space Force is the first new military service since the US Air Force was established in 1947.
