United States 50th Space Wing
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
Established on July 8, 1985, as the 2nd Space Wing, the United States 50th Space Wing was so redesignated on January 30th, 1992. It is a unit of the United States Air Force, and a detachment of the U.S. Air Force Space Command, or USAFSPC. The unit is headquartered at Schriever Air Force Base, located in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Their primary responsibility is to track and maintain the command and control, warning, navigational, and communications satellites for USAFSPC.
Typical satellite monitoring tasks such as tracking and telemetry are the main part of their mission, and in so doing, they employ over 4,000 personnel, both civilian and DOD.
Organizational Units
The wing is divided into three organizational groups:
- Operations
- Communcations
- Support
All are ostensibly located at Schriever, but personnel are emplaced at remote locations, such as satellite tracking facilities.
Satellite Tracking Facilities
The 50th maintains the following tracking stations:
- Kaena Point Satellite Tracking Station in Oahu, Hawaii
- Vandenberg Air Force Base, in Santa Barbara County, California
- Diego Garcia Satellite Tracking Station
- Thule Satellite Tracking Station, Greenland
- Andersen Air Force Base, Guam
- Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado (formerly Falcon AFB)
- RAF Oakhanger, in England, ostensibly operated by the United Kingdom
It is not recommended that people attempt to visit or photograph these sites. Personnel guarding the facilities take their work very seriously and are authorized to use deadly force to prevent unlawful entry to the premesis.
See Also
- Homepage of the 50th SW (http://www.schriever.af.mil/Welcome.aspx?Id=7)
- Homepage of Schriever AFB (http://www.schriever.af.mil/welcome.aspx)
