The first artificial object to cross the
Kármán line, the boundary between air and space, was
MW 18014, an
A-4 rocket launched by the German
Heer on 20 June 1944 from the
Peenemünde Army Research Center. The A4, more commonly known as the V-2, was the world's first
ballistic missile, used by the
Wehrmacht to launch long-range attacks on the
Allied Forces on the
Western Front during the
Second World War. The designer of the A4,
Wernher von Braun, had aspirations to use them as space launch vehicles. In both the United States and the Soviet Union, military space development began immediately after the Second World War concluded, with Wernher von Braun defecting to the Allies and both superpowers gathering V-2 rockets, research materials, and German scientists to jumpstart their own ballistic missile and space programs. In the United States, there was a fierce
interservice rivalry between the
U.S. Air Force and
U.S. Army over which service would gain responsibility for the military space program. The Air Force, which had started developing its space program while it was still the
Army Air Forces in 1945, saw space operations as an extension of its
strategic airpower mission, while the Army argued that
ballistic missiles were an extension of
artillery. In 1946, the Navy began developing rockets primarily for
Naval Research Laboratory projects rather than seeking to actively develop an operational space capability. Ultimately, the Air Force's space rivals in the
Army Ballistic Missile Agency,
Naval Research Laboratory, and
Advanced Research Projects Agency were absorbed by
NASA when it was created in 1958, leaving it as the only major military space organization within the U.S. Department of Defense. In 1954, General Bernard Schriever established the
Western Development Division within
Air Research and Development Command, becoming the U.S. military's first space organization, which continues to exist in the U.S. Space Force as the
Space Systems Command, its research and development center. During the 1960s and 1970s, Air Force space forces were organized within
Aerospace Defense Command for missile defense and space surveillance forces,
Strategic Air Command for weather reconnaissance satellites, and
Air Force Systems Command for satellite communications, space launch, and space development systems. In 1982, U.S. Air Force space forces were centralized in
Air Force Space Command, the first direct predecessor to the U.S. Space Force. U.S. space forces were first employed in the
Vietnam War, and continued to provide satellite communications, weather, and navigation support during the 1982
Falklands War, 1983
United States invasion of Grenada, 1986
United States bombing of Libya, and 1989
United States invasion of Panama. The first major employment of space forces culminated in the
Gulf War, where they proved so critical to the U.S.-led coalition, that it is sometimes referred to as the first space war. The first discussions of creating a military space service in the United States occurred in 1958, with the idea being floated by President Reagan as well in 1982. The 2001 Space Commission argued for the creation of a Space Corps between 2007 and 2011 and a bipartisan proposal in the U.S. Congress would have created a Space Corps in 2017. Then on 20 December 2019, the United States Space Force Act, part of the
National Defense Authorization Act for 2020, was signed, creating an independent space service by renaming and reorganizing Air Force Space Command into the United States Space Force. In the Soviet Union, the early space program was led by the
OKB-1 design bureau, led by
Sergei Korolev. Unlike in the United States, where the U.S. Air Force held preeminence in missile and space development, the
Soviet Ground Forces, and specifically the
Artillery of the Reserve of the Supreme High Command (RVGK), was responsible for missile and military space programs, with the RVGK responsible for the launch of
Sputnik 1, the world's first artificial satellite on 4 October 1957. In 1960, Soviet military space forces were reorganized into the
3rd Department of the Main Missile Directorate of the Ministry of Defence, before in 1964 becoming a part of the new Soviet
Strategic Rocket Forces Central Directorate of Space Assets. The Strategic Rocket Forces Central Directorate of Space Assets would be renamed the Main Directorate of Space Assets in 1970, being transferred to directly report to the Soviet Ministry of Defense in 1982, and in 1986 became the Chief Directorate of Space Assets. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the Russian Federation gained its space forces, with the Chief Directorate of Space Assets was reorganized into the
Military Space Forces, an independent troops (
vid) under the Russian Ministry of Defense, but not a military service (
vid). The Soviet Air Defense Forces' Anti-Ballistic Missile and Anti-Space Defense Forces were reorganized into the Russian Air Defense Forces' . In 2011, the Russian Space Forces became the
Russian Space Command, part of the
Russian Aerospace Defense Forces, which merged Russia's space and air defense forces into one service. In 2015, the
Russian Air Force and Russian Aerospace Defense Forces were merged to form the
Russian Aerospace Forces, which reestablished the Russian Space Forces as one of its three sub-branches, although it is no longer an independent entity. The PLASSF was eventually dissolved in April 2024, with the space force element of the SSF becoming the
People's Liberation Army Aerospace Force. In 2010, the
French Armed Forces created the Joint Space Command, a joint organism under the authority of the
Chief of the Defence Staff. In 2019, the
French President Emmanuel Macron announced that the Joint Space Command would become the
Space Command and the newest major command of the Air Force, which would be renamed to reflect an "evolution of its mission" into the area of
outer space. The Space Command is effective since 2019 and the Air Force was renamed
Air and Space Force on 24 July 2020, with its new logo unveiled on 11 September 2020. In 22 April 2020, the
Iranian
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force announced the existence of its own "Space Command" together with the launch its first military satellite, the
Noor, into orbit. Differently from other air and space forces, the Aerospace Force is subordinate to the
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) instead of the
Iranian Air Force. In June 2022, the
Spanish Government announced the Spanish Air Force would be renamed as the
Spanish Air and Space Force. On July 1, 2025, the
Netherlands renamed the Royal Netherlands Air Force to the
Royal Netherlands Air and Space Force. In 2025, the
Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine passed a law approving the creation of a Space Force branch of the
Armed Forces of Ukraine. The creation of a separate space component would update Ukraine's space capabilities and counteract the
Russian Space Forces. ==Space forces==