SpaceX's Crew Dragon Offers Clues About the Future of Space Force

摘要

Some space watchers say NASA's return to launching astronauts from U.S. soil could shape the far future of military manned spaceflight, though others say the new Space Force doesn't need to aim for "boots on the Moon." SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft carried NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley to the International Space Station on May 30 using a Falcon 9 rocket, marking the first time since 2011 that the U.S. has not relied on Russia's Soyuz program to take people to space. After the launch, Maj. Gen. John Shaw, the Space Force's space operations commander, noted several significant differences from the space shuttle era. The U.S. began its major overhaul of military space bureaucracy in 2019, he noted. The Pentagon stood up both the Space Force-a military service that offers people and weapon systems for U.S. commanders around the world to use-and U.S. Space Command, the organization that fights and defends space assets using the Space Force's resources. That change put Gen. Jay Raymond, who runs both the Space Force and SPACECOM, in charge of military support for human spaceflight, Shaw said.