CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION, Fla. -- On June 24, 2026, the 1st Space Launch Squadron was reactivated during a ceremony at the Sands Space History Center, directly outside Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. U.S. Space Force Col. Brian Chatman, commander of Space Launch Delta 45 and director of the Eastern Range, gave command of the 1st SLS to U.S. Space Force Lt. Col. Montgomery 'Blair' Kirk.
The 1st SLS was originally activated in October of 1990 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and oversaw National Security Space Launch operations. The squadron was responsible for Launch Complex 17 and the Delta II and Delta III launch operations that occurred there between 1990 and 2009. These launches carried assets into orbit that furthered scientific discovery, communications, space exploration, and a burgeoning GPS network. After the Air Force’s final Delta II mission, GPS IIR-21, was launched in August of 2009, the squadron was inactivated. It was not deactivated, but rendered inactive.
Since then, Cape Canaveral transitioned from an Air Force Station to a Space Force Station under SLD 45. Eastern Range operations have seen a significant increase with 109 orbital launches in 2025 compared to 11 in 2009. Currently, the Eastern Range has over a dozen configurations of launch vehicles in various levels of development, construction and operations.
SLD 45 Airmen and Guardians have long performed the supporting activities necessary for getting to ‘day of launch’ such as scheduling and deconflicting launch vehicle and satellite transportation, pad and flight safety analyses, weather forecasting for launch and recovery, as well as instrumentation and infrastructure maintenance and sustainment. However, with the increased launch cadence, the emergence of a complex launch and test ecosystem and the continued focus on maintaining ready and responsive DoW capabilities, SLD 45 saw a need to update how they oversee spaceport operations, as well as how they’ll plan for the future. This is why the reactivation of the 1st SLS was deemed necessary.
The 1st SLS will help to streamline communications and operations across the Eastern Range. They will address the entirety of the Eastern Range infrastructure by managing physical transportation networks and logistical pipelines, as well as digital infrastructure to enable next-generation range automation that will accelerate launch operation processes and increase range capacity.
“One of our capacity limiters is our ability to share information expediently and effectively across multiple launch providers and government partners including the FAA and NASA as well as with the Western Range, and we want providers to have a consistent experience regardless of where they're launching from,” said U.S. Space Force Col. Joyce Bulson, SLD 45 deputy commander for operations. “Previously, the providers might have to make calls to multiple units to get a complete SLD 45 answer. Now, they’ll only have to make one call to the 1st SLS.”
The 1st SLS will have five flights that focus on different elements:
- Spaceport futures
- Spaceport operations
- Business operations
- Range instrumentation maintenance and sustainment
- Digital capabilities
While the 1st SLS will be the touchpoint for all launch providers, the 5th Space Launch Squadron will continue to be the ‘boots on the ground’ for the NSSL program. They will also oversee mission assurance requirements for launch vehicle and satellite hardware, as well as assisting with new entrant certification activities such as check-out of launch provider ground systems and launch pads. Additionally, the 1st Range Operations Squadron will continue to focus on day-of-launch range requirements of the satellite customer, launch providers and the government to protect public safety. These squadrons will work in concert with each other to continue to support the increasing capabilities of the Eastern Range.
“In order to operationalize launch, we need to normalize spaceport operations. Viewing the Eastern Range as simply an installation with a collection of tenants will not get us to the future we need, nor is it representative of the work we do for each and every launch,” said Bulson. “We are out of real estate, time and people. We need to get our hands on the stick and leverage our industrial partners in a way that protects future DoW requirements, while ensuring efficient and effective use of our budget”.
The Chief of Space Operations, U.S. Space Force Gen. Chance Saltzman, has projected that launch operations at the Eastern Range and Spaceport will increase to 1,200 launches per year by 2040. In order to achieve this goal, updates to SLD 45 policies, procedures and infrastructure will need to be made, and the 1st SLS will be there to help the Eastern Range continue to evolve and maintain its title as the premier gateway to space.