The 5th Expeditionary Space Operations Squadron is an expeditionary satellite operations unit of the United States Air Force, assigned to the Air Force Space Command for activation or inactivation as required.

History

The 5th Expeditionary Space Operations Squadron (ESOPS), originally part of the

Air Force Satellite Control Facility The United States Air Force's Air Force Satellite Control Facility (AFSCF) was a space command and control unit located at Onizuka AFS, California. It has the distinction of being heavily involved in the world's first reconnaissance satellite pro ...

, was provisionally established as Operating Location-A of the

750th Space Group The United States Air Force's 750th Space Group was a space operations unit located at Onizuka Air Force Station, California. its predecessor was formed on 1 October 1987; it assumed the designation of the 750th Space Group on 30 January 1992; an ...

on 1 October 1992. It was officially activated on 22 November 1993 under the 50th Operations Group. The formation followed the division of the Air Force Satellite Control Facility into the 2nd Space Test Group and the Consolidated Space Test Center (CSTC) on 1 October 1987, coinciding with the Air Force Space Command's acquisition of

Onizuka Air Force Base 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 ...

(later Onizuka Air Station). In the year it was established, the 5th ESOPS assumed the responsibilities of the

2nd Satellite Tracking Group The United States Air Force's 750th Space Group was a space operations unit located at Onizuka Air Force Station, California. its predecessor was formed on 1 October 1987; it assumed the designation of the 750th Space Group on 30 January 1992; an ...

Operations Division and the 1999th Communications Squadron Operations Division. Following the 1995 Base Realignment and Closure Committee's directives, the 21st Space Operations Squadron (SOS) assumed the functions of the 750th Space Group, its subordinate units, and the 5th Space Operations Squadron. Shortly after its establishment, the squadron undertook a number of operations, including the launch of a DSCS III and a NATO IV communications satellite, support for the Hubble Space Telescope repair mission, and the deployment of the Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) for NASA missions. These missions encompassed the launch of all seven Tracking and Data Relay Satellites (

TDRS A tracking and data relay satellite (TDRS) is a type of communications satellite that forms part of the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) used by NASA and other United States government agencies for communications to and fro ...

) and three interplanetary spacecraft: Galileo to Jupiter, Magellan to Venus, and Ulysses to the Sun.

Lineage

* Constituted as the 5th Satellite Control Squadron on 11 April 1989 * Activated on 1 May 1989 * Redesignated as the 5th Space Operations Squadron on 30 January 1992 * Inactivated on 31 July 1992 * Activated on 22 November 1993 * Inactivated on 13 June 2000 * Redesignated as the 5th Expeditionary Space Operations Squadron and converted to provisional status on 5 December 2007

Assignments

1000th Satellite Operations Group 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, 1 May 1989 – 31 July 1992 *

50th Operations Group The 50th Operations Group was a subordinate unit of the 50th Space Wing, and assigned to Air Force Space Command from 1991-2019. The group, redesignated as Space Delta 8 on 24 Jul 2020 is stationed at Schriever Space Force Base, previously Schr ...

, 22 November 1993 – 13 June 2000 * Air Force Space Command to activate or inactivate at any time after 5 December 2007

Locations

Fairchild Air Force Base Fairchild Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force base, located in the northwest United States in eastern Washington, approximately southwest of Spokane. The host unit at Fairchild is the 92nd Air Refueling Wing (92 ARW) assigned t ...

, Washington, 1 May 1989 – 31 July 1992 * Onizuka Air Force Station, California, 22 November 1993 – 13 June 2000

Satellites operated

* Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (1989 - 1992) * Defense Satellite Communications System III (1993–1995) * NATO III (1993–1995)Force Enhancement - Air University
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SkyNet Skynet may refer to: Airlines * Sky Net Airline, a charter airline from Armenia * Skynet (airline), a Russian regional airline based at the Krasnoyarsk Airport * Skynet Airlines, a defunct Irish airline that operated in 2001–2004 * Skynet, a d ...

IV (1993–1995) * Inertial Upper Stage (1993–1995) *

Tracking and Data Relay Satellite A tracking and data relay satellite (TDRS) is a type of communications satellite that forms part of the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) used by NASA and other United States government agencies for communications to and fro ...

References

Notes

Bibliography

External links

Onizuka AFS Chronology

21SOPS Fact Sheet

{{USAF Space Command Space Operations 0005 Military units and formations in Florida