Preparing Space Force to defend our interests in Space

Gen. Caine: US Troops Must Prepare to Fight Around the Moon

American troops need to prepare for combat not only in Earth's orbit but around the moon, President Donald Trump's top military adviser said Wednesday, looking ahead to a new frontier in warfare after the U.S. revealed for the first time that it has deployed weapons in space.

Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told service members and industry figures at the Air, Space, and Cyber Conference outside Washington that the U.S. military should adapt now so it "is prepared to fight, endure and win ... from the seabed to cislunar space."

Space Force, the newest military service, which was created by Trump in 2019, is preparing to fight in space and around the moon because "humanity is advancing deeper into space — the Space Force's job is to help be prepared to defend U.S. interests," Lt. Gen. Gregory Gagnon, head of the force's Combat Forces Command, told reporters separately.

The Outer Space Treaty of 1967, which the U.S. and China have signed, says celestial objects such as the moon are to be used "exclusively for peaceful purposes," nuclear weapons cannot be placed in space, and countries are "liable for damage caused by their space objects."

When asked about the 1967 treaty and other similar obligations, Gagnon said the U.S. Space Force "will continue to execute safe and responsible space operations in all the reaches of space."

Gagnon also says the U.S. aims to double the size of the Space Force over the next five years — to roughly 25,000 service members — and that about two-thirds of that growth would be focused on Combat Forces Command.

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United States Space Academy

Donald Trump Just Did Something No President Has Done Since Dwight Eisenhower

Four American heroes flew to the far side of the moon four months ago – and Jen Psaki used to laugh at the branch of the military that made it possible. Now Trump just answered that mockery with the biggest move in American space history since 1954. The last time America built something like this, Dwight Eisenhower was president and the Korean War had just ended.

Trump just signed the order at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston – the same room where the Artemis II crew received their Congressional Space Medal of Honor after flying 252,756 miles into space, farther than any human had traveled since Apollo 13.

Think about that.

Those four astronauts – Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian Jeremy Hansen – flew around the far side of the moon in April and came home to a country with no dedicated pipeline to train the people who do that for a living.

Trump fixed it Friday. The United States Space Academy will train the next generation of Space Force guardians, NASA engineers, and civilian space operators under a full-scholarship, taxpayer-funded program with mandatory service commitments.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman – the man who called Artemis II "the greatest adventure in human history" – will chair the Presidential Commission tasked with designing the academy from scratch. They have 120 days.

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The Moon Visits Venus Tonight

Candace - Egg on her face

Splashdown

Artemis II astronauts splash down safely after NASA moon mission

The crew landed in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego shortly after 8 p.m. ET, following a fiery plunge through Earth's atmosphere.

The world watched this exciting, historical moment.

Artemis II

Artemis on the way home

Artemis 2 crew completes flyby, heading home

The Artemis 2 spacecraft and its 4 astronauts are on their way home following a historic day in human spaceflight.

At around 18 UTC, the crew reached the farthest distance from Earth ever traveled by humans, breaking the record of 248,655 miles (400,171km) set by the Apollo 13 crew in 1970.

And a few hours later, the spacecraft began its voyage around the moon's far side. As the crew soared some 4,600 miles (7,400 km) above the lunar surface, the moon blocked all communications from Earth for 40 minutes.

In that time, the astronauts saw parts of the far side of the moon never before seen in daylight by human eyes. Plus, they spotted several impact flashes from space rocks hitting the lunar surface!

Read more about what they saw.

NASA - Artemis II Live Mission

We go back to the Moon today

Artemis 2 launches to the moon today!

"It's been more than 50 years since humans have visited the moon. Today, the Artemis 2 mission is set to launch us back there.

Lifting off from Florida between 5:24 p.m. and 7:24 p.m. CDT (22:24-0:24 UTC), the Artemis 2 spacecraft will send 4 astronauts on a 10-day trip around the far side of the moon and back to Earth.

It will be the 1st crewed mission beyond low Earth orbit since the final Apollo mission in 1972.

Currently, there is an 80% chance of favorable weather conditions for the launch. If weather gets in the way, there are also launch opportunities every day through Monday, April 6." 

Astronauts going back to the Moon

Artemis II: Astronauts Heading Back To Moon

Good news: people are going back to lunar orbit. Artemis II is planned to fly humans around the Moon early in 2026 — possibly as soon as February. This will be the first time astronauts travel beyond low-Earth orbit in more than five decades.

The mission will use NASA’s Orion spacecraft. It won’t land. Instead, Orion will take a wide, sweeping path around the Moon. That trajectory suits Orion’s design and mass. The result: a long loop that gives the crew a sweeping view of the lunar surface and parts of the Moon few humans have ever seen.

Who’s on board? Four astronauts: Reid Wiseman (commander), Victor Glover (pilot), Christina Koch (mission specialist) from NASA, and Jeremy Hansen from the Canadian Space Agency. They’ve been running simulations, training inside Orion, and preparing for the unique conditions of a deep-space trip.

Why this matters: Artemis II is a test flight with people on board. It’s not just about the photo ops. The crew will test life-support systems, communications, navigation, and operational procedures in a real deep-space environment. Those checks are key before later missions that will try landing and building a sustained presence on the Moon.

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This morning's Moon--52% of full

Sunset 12-24-23 and Tonight's Moon

95% of full--

What is China doing on the Moon?

What Is China Doing on the Moon? Researchers Make Scary Discovery

"Everyone knows about the craters on the moon, right? The ones that look like a celestial game of golf gone horribly wrong? Well, a couple of them have been causing quite the ruckus amongst the scientific community. It seems these two particular craters weren’t caused by rogue space rocks, but rather something much more intriguing.

A team from the University of Arizona has been playing detective, and they’ve come up with a theory. They believe that one of the craters was formed by a Chinese rocket booster, which was carrying an unknown payload. Yep, an unknown payload. Now, if that doesn’t get your conspiracy-theorist juices flowing, I don’t know what will.

But wait, there’s more! This rocket booster supposedly broke off from a Chinese rocket launched back in 2014. But here’s where things get really interesting. The American research team also found that a second object of roughly the same weight as the booster landed on the moon, creating the other crater."

And thanks to President Trump, he got the Space Force enacted. In 2019, the House and Senate resolved their differences to pass the United States Space Force Act, and this was signed into law by President Donald Trump, establishing the U.S. Space Force as the first new independent military service since the Army Air Forces were reorganized as the U.S. Air Force in 1947.

In September, the Space Force announced a new mission statement: “Secure our Nation’s interests in, from, and to space.”

“Secure” refers to the Space Force’s formative purpose to contest, and when directed, control the space domain on behalf of the nation and joint force.

“Our Nation’s interests” represents Guardians’ focus on protecting the security and prosperity the U.S. derives from space. It also serves as a reminder that space activities are essential to the American way of life.

“In, from, and to space” references the three core functions of the Space Force, which include securing the Nation’s interests."

So what is China doing on the Moon?

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Moon Last night!

Last Night's Moon 9-22-23

Early Morn 9-11-23

Last Night's Full Moon

Sunrise 7-31 and Waxing Gibbous Last Night

China and Cyberspace

As we spend billions on illegals, The New Green Deal and Ukraine, China is concentrating on taking control of space.

ANALYSIS – China has just announced that it plans to land its version of astronauts ‘taikonauts' on the moon by 2030. This would be a first for any country other than the United States, which last sent men to the moon on the Apollo 17 mission in 1972.

Along with China's other impressive space developments, this lunar goal is also pushing the U.S. and China closer to war in space.

China is increasingly posing a threat to the vital U.S. satellites the Pentagon relies on for almost everything.

In 2021 China launched a satellite with a robotic arm – Shijian-17, or SJ-17 – capable of grabbing other satellites and has developed a way to place explosives in their thruster nozzles.

Last Night's Full Moon

It was a golden moon!