45th Space Wing cuts into a new era of space exploration

Col. Burton Catledge, 45th Operations Group commander and Lt. Col. Jason Havel, Detachment 3 commander, cut the ribbon to the recently renovated Human Spaceflight Support Operations Center (SOC), to symbolize America’s transition from a government operated space program to a blended mission with the addition of commercially-operated crewed spaceflight programs. The $485,000 yearlong project created a state-of-the-art communications hub used for the Department of Defense’s human spaceflight support missions from the SOC, which is an extension of the Joint Space Operations Center at Vandenberg AFB, Calif. It hosts a worldwide command and control capability for Department of Defense rescue forces through a combination of radio frequencies, specialized internet applications, texting, satellite and secure and unsecure voice through the SOC's 10 workstations, 20 DOD circuits and 20 NASA specific circuits. (U.S. Air Force photo by Phil Sunkel))

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45th Space Wing cuts into a new era of space exploration

Prior to the $485,000 renovation in 2017, this photo shows personnel operating the legacy analog consoles during a 2016 astronaut rescue exercise. The 45th Operations Group Detachment 3 tested their communication channels to Air Force airborne assets, pararescue forces at sea, NASA's Johnson Space Center and the Joint Space Operations Center. The SOC's mission is to provide a worldwide Department of Defense command and control node for NASA astronaut rescue and recovery and is currently used for operational Soyuz missions returning from the International Space Station, and various exercises in support of NASA's nascent Orion and Commercial Crew Programs. The renovations improved the SOC's technical capabilities to support additional commercially-operated crewed spaceflight programs. (U.S. Air Force file photo)

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45th Space Wing cuts into a new era of space exploration

Published July 7, 2017
45th Space Wing

PATRICK AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- Col. Burton Catledge, 45th Operations Group commander and Lt. Col. Jason Havel, Detachment 3 commander, cut the ribbon to the recently renovated Human Spaceflight Support Operations Center (SOC), to symbolize America’s transition from a government operated space program to a blended mission with the addition of commercially-operated crewed spaceflight programs. The $485,000 yearlong project created a state-of-the-art communications hub used for the Department of Defense’s human spaceflight support missions from the SOC, which is an extension of the Joint Space Operations Center at Vandenberg AFB, Calif. It hosts a worldwide command and control capability for Department of Defense rescue forces through a combination of radio frequencies, specialized internet applications, texting, satellite and secure and unsecure voice through the SOC's 10 workstations, 20 DOD circuits and 20 NASA specific circuits. (U.S. Air Force photo by Phil Sunkel)