Space Command's mission is to: "To conduct operations in, from, and through space to deter conflict, and if necessary, defeat aggression, deliver space combat power for the Joint/Combined force, and defend U.S. vital interests with allies and partners."
Organization
United States Space Command has two subordinate components. The Combined Force Space Component Command is responsible for planning and conducting global space operations, while also providing space effects to the other combatant commands and U.S. allied partners. Joint Task Force–Space Defense is responsible for conducing space superiority operations.
United States Space Command was established in as a functional combatant command 1985 to provide joint command and control of the Air Force, Army, and Navy's space forces, as well as prepare for the implementation of the Strategic Defense Initiative. In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, the armed forces' focus on homeland defense and counter-terrorism was significantly increased, which resulted in space being deemphasized. It was in this context that the unified command plan was reevaluated, resulting in U.S. Northern Command being established for the defense of the North American continent, while U.S. Space Command was merged with U.S. Strategic Command, where its responsibilities were absorbed into the Joint Functional Component Command for Space and Global Strike. In 2006, this would be replaced by the Joint Functional Component Command for Space, and in 2017, be reorganized as the Joint Force Space Component Commander. The Army components for the first formation of Space Command were the Army Space Agency ; Army Space Command ; and Army Space and Strategic Defense Command, which eventually became today's Army Space and Missile Defense Command. Up until 2002 Naval Space Command was the naval component, and Air Force Space Command the USAF component.
Second U.S. Space Command: 2019–present
The 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, which was signed into law in 2018, directed the reestablishment of U.S. Space Command as a sub-unified combatant command under U.S. Strategic Command; however, in December 2018, the Trump administration directed that U.S. Space Command instead be reestablished as a full unified combatant command, with full responsibilities for space warfighting held under U.S. Strategic Command. On March 26, 2019, U.S. Air Force General John W. Raymond was nominated to be Commander of the reestablished USSPACECOM, pending Senate approval. In 2019 the Air Force released that the list of finalists for the Headquarters of Space Command were Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station, Schriever Air Force Base, Peterson Air Force Base, Buckley Air Force Base, Vandenberg Air Force Base, and Redstone Arsenal. U.S. Space Command was officially reestablished on August 29, 2019 during a ceremony at the White House. The former Joint Force Space Component Commander was dissolved and folded into Space Command. USSPACECOM has two subordinate commands: Combined Force Space Component Command, and Joint Task Force Space Defense with commanders AF Maj. Gen. Stephen Whiting, and Army BG Gen. Tom James, respectively. CFSCC plans, integrates, conducts, and assesses global space operations in order to deliver combat relevant space capabilities to Combatant Commanders, Coalition partners, the Joint Force, and the Nation. JTF-SD conducts, in unified action with mission partners, space superiority operations to deter aggression, defend U.S. and allied interests, and defeat adversaries throughout the continuum of conflict.
Commanders
Commander–in–Chief, United States Space Command
Commander, Joint Space Operations (Strategic Command)
Commander, Joint Functional Component Command for Space (Strategic Command)
Commander, Joint Force Space Component Command (Strategic Command)
Commander, United States Space Command
Commanders of Space Command by branches of serviceExcluding predecessors serving in Strategic Command functional commands
