The

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

's Air Force Satellite Control Facility (AFSCF) was a space

command and control Command and control (abbr. C2) is a "set of organizational and technical attributes and processes ... hatemploys human, physical, and information resources to solve problems and accomplish missions" to achieve the goals of an organization or en ...

unit located at

Onizuka AFS Onizuka Air Force Station or Onizuka AFS was a United States Air Force installation in Sunnyvale, California, at the intersection of California State Route 237, State Route 237 and North Mathilda Avenue. It was operational from 1960 to 2010. Its d ...

, California. It has the distinction of being heavily involved in the world's first

reconnaissance satellite A reconnaissance satellite or intelligence satellite (commonly, although unofficially, referred to as a spy satellite) is an Earth observation satellite or communications satellite deployed for military or intelligence applications. The ...

program,

CORONA Corona (from the Latin for 'crown') most commonly refers to: * Stellar corona, the outer atmosphere of the Sun or another star * Corona (beer), a Mexican beer * Corona, informal term for the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which causes the COVID-19 di ...

. Due to geological hazards (i.e. earthquakes), and the terrorism threat from its proximity to a major transportation link (California Highway 101), the facility's

functions were moved to

Schriever AFB Schriever Space Force Base, previously Schriever Air Force Base, Falcon Air Force Base, and Falcon Air Force Station, is a base of the United States Space Force located approximately east of Peterson Space Force Base near Colorado Springs in ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

History

The Air Force Satellite Control Facility (AFSCF) was originally activated at Los Angeles AFS, California on 18 Jun 1965.AFHRA FOIA Request 2009-02203, 21 July 2009 It was first assigned to the Space Systems Division of

Air Force Systems Command The Air Force Systems Command (AFSC) is an inactive United States Air Force Major Command. It was established in April 1951, being split off from Air Materiel Command. The mission of AFSC was Research and Development for new weapons systems. Ove ...

, with later moves under the Space and Missile Systems Organization, and Space Division organizations. On 15 October 1961,

designated the Thule Tracking Station (TTS, ), a

Remote Tracking Station The Satellite Control Network (SCN), operated by the United States Space Force's Space Delta 6, provides support for the operation, control, and maintenance of a variety of United States Department of Defense and some non-DoD satellites. This in ...

(callsign: Polar Orbiting Geophysical Observatory (POGO)) of the

Air Force Satellite Control Network The Satellite Control Network (SCN), operated by the United States Space Force's Space Delta 6, provides support for the operation, control, and maintenance of a variety of United States Department of Defense and some non-DoD satellites. This in ...

near

Thule Air Base Thule Air Base (pronounced or , kl, Qaanaaq Mitarfik, da, Thule Lufthavn), or Thule Air Base/Pituffik Airport , is the United States Space Force's northernmost base, and the northernmost installation of the U.S. Armed Forces, located north o ...

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...

. It became Operating Location 5, 6594th Test Wing (Satellite). The Thule Tracking Station reached operational status on 30 March 1962, with "transportable antenna vans parked in an old

Strategic Air Command Strategic Air Command (SAC) was both a United States Department of Defense Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command responsible for command and control of the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile ...

bomb assembly building." The permanent RTS equipment was emplaced in 1964, and a communications terminal was emplaced on Pingarssuit Mountain—Thule Site N-32. In 1992 the Thule Tracking Station became Detachment 2,

22nd Space Operations Squadron The 22d Space Operations Squadron is a satellite control unit of the United States Space Force. It is part of Space Delta 6 and is located at Schriever Space Force Base, Colorado. Prior to July 2020 it was part of the 50th Network Operations G ...

Previous designations

* Consolidated Space Test Center (2 Oct 1987 – 27 Aug 1993) * Air Force Satellite Control Facility (18 Jun 1965 – 1 Oct 1987) * 6594th Aerospace Test Wing (1 Nov 1961 – 1 Jul 1965) * 6594th Test Wing (Satellite) (15 Jan 1960 – 1 Nov 1961) * 6594th Test Wing (6 Apr 1959 – 15 Jan 1960) * Field Office of Air Force Ballistic Missile Division (15 Aug 1958 – 6 Apr 1959)

Assignments

Major Command/Field Operating Agency

Air Force Space Command The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing for ...

(??-27 Aug 1993) *

(1 Jul 1965-27 )

Elements assigned

* 6594th Aerospace Test Wing (6 Apr 1959 – 1 Jul 1965) ** Detachment 1, Donnelly Radio Relay Site, Delta Junction, Alaska (15 Apr 1962 – 1 Jul 1965) * 6594th Support Group (1 Jul 1965 – 1 Oct 1987) * 6594th Recovery Control Group (1 Jul 1965 – 30 Sep 1986) * 6594th Launch Squadron (1 Jun 1959 – 15 Jul 1961) * 6594th Data Processing Squadron (1 Jul 1959 – 1 Oct 1960) * 6596th Instrumentation Squadron, Vandenberg AFB, California (1 Jul 1959 – 30 Jun 1972) * 6594th Instrumentation Squadron (1 Oct 1959 – 1 Jul 1965) * 6595th Test Squadron (20 Feb 1961 – 1 Jul 1965)

Detachments

*Det 1 –

Sunnyvale Sunnyvale () is a city located in the Santa Clara Valley in northwest Santa Clara County in the U.S. state of California. Sunnyvale lies along the historic El Camino Real and Highway 101 and is bordered by portions of San Jose to the north ...

, California (1 Jul 1965 – 1 Jul 1977) *Det 2 – Vandenberg Tracking Station, California (1 Oct 1979 – 1 Oct 1987) *Det 3 –

Thule Thule ( grc-gre, Θούλη, Thoúlē; la, Thūlē) is the most northerly location mentioned in ancient Greek literature, ancient Greek and Latin literature, Roman literature and cartography. Modern interpretations have included Orkney, Shet ...

Tracking Station,

(1 Oct 1979 – 1 Oct 1987) *Det 4 – Mahé,

Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, V ...

(15 Jul 1972 – 1 Oct 1987) *Det 5 –

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

Tracking Station, Guam (1 Oct 1979 – 1 Oct 1987) *Det 6 – Hawaii Tracking Station, Hawaii (1 Oct 1979 – 1 Oct 1987) *Det 7 – Sunnyvale AFS (later

), California (17 Apr 1987 – 30 Sep 1987) (later moved to Los Angeles AFS, California from 30 Sep 1987 until inactivation on 15 Jul 1991)

Bases stationed

* Sunnyvale AFS (later, Onizuka AFS/AFB), California (8 Jul 1977 – 27 Aug 1993) * Los Angeles AFS, California (18 Jun 1965 – 8 Jul 1977)

Spacecraft operated

* KH-1/2/3/4 CORONA (1959–1972) *

Global Positioning System The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of the global navigation satellite sy ...

(GPS) *

Fleet Satellite Communications System FLTSATCOM (also FLTSAT) is a satellite communication system of the U.S. Space Force which was used for UHF radio communications between ships, submarines, airplanes and ground stations of the Navy. Most of the transponders on these satellites w ...

(FLTSATCOM) *Various satellites of the

Space Test Program The Space Test Program (STP) is the primary provider of spaceflight for the United States Department of Defense (DoD) space science and technology community. STP is managed by a group within the Advanced Systems and Development Directorate, a d ...

World Airpower Journal. (1992). US Air Force Air Power Directory. Aerospace Publishing: London, UK.

References

External links

Air Force Space Command

National Reconnaissance Office
{{USAF Space Command National Reconnaissance Office United States Air Force Military units and formations in California