Naval Space Command

History

The roots of Naval Space Command trace back to the late 1950s, when the Naval Research Laboratory's Project Vanguard Minitrack system tracked satellites by using the electronic signals emitted by Sputnik and other spacecraft to determine their orbits. This system was commissioned in 1961 as the Naval Space Surveillance System, and it was transferred to Naval Space Command in 1993. The network included three transmitter sites at Jordan Lake, Alabama; Lake Kickapoo, Texas; and Gila River, Arizona, along with six receiver sites at Tattnall County, Georgia; Hawkinsville, Georgia; Silver Lake, Mississippi; Red River, Arkansas; Elephant Butte, New Mexico; and San Diego, California.

In 1987, NSC took on the responsibility of operating the Alternate Space Operations Center for U.S. Space Command. The command also managed U.S. Space Command's space surveillance networks and provided space intelligence support to naval forces. Although NSC was officially disestablished in 2002, significant components were transferred in 2004 to Air Force Space Command's 20th Space Control Squadron (now the 20th Space Surveillance Squadron of the United States Space Force).

These included the former Naval Space Surveillance System, which was renamed the Air Force Space Surveillance System, and the responsibility for operating the Alternate Space Operations Center.