Vandenberg Air Force Base To Be Renamed As Space Force Base

Vandenberg Air Force Base in California will be renamed Vandenberg Space Force Base on Friday. 

As reported by The Associated Press, “The Space Force was created as the sixth uniformed military branch in 2019 during the administration of former President Donald Trump. Personnel assigned to the Air Force Space Command were reassigned to the Space Force, ending its Air Force lineage.”

“Redesignating Air Force installations as Space Force installations is critical to establishing a distinct culture and identity for the Space Force,” a base statement said.

Vandenberg was originally created in 1941 as Camp Cooke, an Army garrison for tank, infantry and artillery training, per the AP. 

The location of the base made it a good place to carry out missile tests and perform launches into polar orbit. It was reestablished during the Cold War as Cooke Air Force Base and then Vandenberg in honor of Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg, the second chief of staff of the Air Force.

President Joe Biden decided to keep the Space Force earlier this year when he began his first term in the White House, although his administration has received criticism for its handling of the branch.

“They absolutely have the full support of the Biden administration,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters about the Space Force, a day after she was criticized for appearing to mock the Space Force and not take a question about it seriously. 

The Daily Wire reported that Psaki was asked about what Biden’s plans were regarding the Space Force, including whether he wanted to keep the new military branch.

“Wow. Space Force. It’s the plane of today,” Psaki responded sarcastically. “It is an interesting question. I am happy to check with our Space Force point of contact. I’m not sure who that is. I will find out and see if we have any update on that.” 

Psaki’s comments were an apparent reference to previous questions from reporters about whether the Biden administration would change the colors on Air Force One. 

Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL), the House Armed Services Committee’s top Republican, demanded that Psaki apologize for the remark.

“It’s concerning to see the Biden administration’s press secretary blatantly diminish an entire branch of our military as the punchline of a joke, which I’m sure China would find funny,” Rogers said. “The Space Force was passed with near unanimous support in Congress, the same type of ‘unity’ President Biden is supposedly working towards. Jen Psaki needs to immediately apologize to the men and women of the Space Force for this disgraceful comment.”

In a podcast interview with David Axelrod earlier this month, Psaki discussed her comments about the Space Force, saying, “There are certainly days where I wish I hadn’t said something that I had said … somebody asked me about the Space Force … and my intention was never to begrudge the men and women serving in the Space Force. I was a week in and I had not spent time with the Space Force yet, but that was a good lesson. … To their credit, the head of the Space Force wrote me a note … I will always be an advocate for the Space Force. But it’s a lesson.”

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