WASHINGTON — The original proponents of a separate military branch for space — Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) and Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) — are poised for a victory after the House on Dec. 11 passed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 by a vote of 377 to 48.
If it passes the Senate and is signed by the president, the NDAA will give the Air Force the green light to stand up a Space Force as the sixth branch of the U.S. armed forces. The Space Force would reside under the Department of the Air Force but would be an independent service, the same way the Marine Corps is part of the Department of the Navy.
During a meeting with reporters on Capitol Hill just a few hours before the House vote, Cooper and Rogers cautioned that the passage of the NDAA is only the first step of a long road, and warned that the Space Force could face significant growing pains.
Cooper and Rogers, chairman and ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee’s strategic forces subcommittee, wrote the language to establish a Space Corps under the Department of the Air Force in the 2018 NDAA but their bill was defeated in the House-Senate conference.
The language in this year’s NDAA is very similar to the Space Corps bill from two years ago. The only difference between the Space Corps of 2017 and the Space Force of 2019 is “just one word,” Cooper said.
Both argued then and continue to argue that it’s imperative that space programs and responsibilities be taken away from the Air Force and moved to an independent service to ensure they get enough