With Congressional Blessing, Space Force Is Closer To Launch

A ULA Atlas V rocket carrying a U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center mission launched Thursday at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Walter Scriptunas II / Courtesy United Launch Alliance

It started as a joke.

Early last year, President Trump riffed on an idea he called “Space Force” before a crowd of Marines in San Diego.

It drew laughs, but the moment was a breakthrough for a plan that had languished for nearly 20 years.