Transcripts For CSPAN2 Discussion On Space The U.S. Militar

Panelists. Good afternoon, general shaw, Major General john shaw joining us from Vandenberg Air force base. Welcome. Can you hear us . I can hear you break can you hear me, sandra . Perfect. Major general john shaw, he is the commander of the Space Operations commands under the u. S. Space force and he is also the commander of the combined force Space Component for the u. S. Space command. Communications, gps, Weather Services but not a lot of people understand we also provide support for human spaceflight. Walk us through the mission and. Thank you. Thank you for hosting and greetings from the air force base on this beautiful Central Coast of california. Thanks for this opportunity. A lot of things upfront so i guess i will talk for a little bit. It was not only an incredible weekend but its been an incredible month, the month of may 2020. Earlier this month we launched in x. 37 from Cape Canaveral. The people in the air force to transfer and now who do we have that may be a transfer to the space force. On top of that they have recruiting commercials in the month of may that are kind of cool to watch and interesting. I point out in both of the commercials here at annenberg airspace. Its a new one we are going to move into later this year and then i couldnt finish by not acknowledging we also had the netflix version make its debut. So i dont know i think you need a special addition to capture all those things. With all that, we continued as a space force into Space Command with the expertise of our professionals to continue to do the Operations Worldwide in the midst of the pandemic that is affecting all of us right now and im proud of the fact that we were able to do. Let me clarify the task force devoted to talk with you in a minute but i would like to set the stage. Here at the combined space center at annenberg and we do have an Important Mission for the lions share of this support to the personnel recovery. The department of defense has been supporting since the beginning. 60 years ago when workers to sending humans into space the department of defense was supporting that and weve been through the entire history and we are proud to support in that regard about what happened this past weekend was a change. It marked a new era not only for nasa but also for us supportingg them. Let me walk through why we had those changes. We are in a different place than we were. We should point back to to a gargantuan events that happened with regards to this peace organizations. The first on december 20 was space force standing up again as it showed u should six branch oe United States military. We had stood down the command and we started back up again and that was a massive event. One way to look at this if we were to do a documentary of these that happened in 2019 and he would probably title it the rise of space force in the return of Space Command, two things that happened in 2019. So why does that matter for us . Space command inherited wealth worth of strategic responsibilities for the spaceflight. As the commander of the United States Space Command is a sign that the duties by the unified command that comes down to us from the president. He was assigned to the duties of the managers support team in the spaceflight and my role as a compliment commander within the United States Space Command at the operational level they follow the command and control for all of the forces and capabilities and events that might surround support for human spaceflight and so that is my role in that regard as you asked. Others we can talk about a little later because i dont want to loose focus on this. In the same role, im responsible for the global integration Space Capabilities fighting other National Security needs i also work for general raymond as the chief of Space Operations at the commanders of Space Command which was what 14th air force was redesignated as. There was a lot of paperwork that went on at the end of december of last year. I was an air force commander and became the commander of what we call Space Operations command and then the space forces that are presented so under me in that regard as well and that includes who you will hear from today. Those are capabilities that are presented. So again i have a great front row seat to where both have the eyewear here. Organizationally, with support here operationally it involves a lot more than just the personal Recovery Mission that people hear about in a moment. Weve been supporting the human spaceflight for decades even during the shuttle era and during the postshuttle era by providing awareness to the International Space station said if there is a piece of debris that might be coming close to the space station, the network that works for me and my joint hat will detect that and notify nasa and they will make the decision to make an adjustment for the International Space station to support that. Weve been doing that for a long time. But theres other pieces with regards to the recent launch beyond what was done in florida. We actually set up some networks to enable the personal recovery forces that might be needed globally and that is Something Else that we have to do. Theres also International Partnership to this. We were in touch with among our allies letting them know what was going on and in a particular case i would like to think the united kingdom. They helped us with some of our awareness analysis it is a big team effort and nerve center for this right here is combining space operation. That is how it is kind of different than it has been in the past. The second way that this is different, last weekend was different from this, is the methodology. Its true we have been saying the first time we returned from american soil since 2011, the shuttle era but we are not using the shuttle we are using a capsule so we have to go back to 1975 to remember when weaver last supporting for the personal recovery operations and that is a whole different profile in terms of Mission Planning and scenarios. They have the ability to maneuver and land in an airfield that requires a certain amount of support. The capsule doesnt have to but it has the possibility of landing anywhere. Another thing that is a little bit different is in the early age of human spaceflight, they supported kind of three capsules in a serial fashion. We had mercury, gemini and apollo and the recovery forces learn how to recover one cupful that they could learn how to recover another in got to apollo in the mid60s to 1975 that is the one they focused on. The Lieutenant Colonel has to focus on training for three capsules simultaneously. They trained for the one we saw launched this past weekend and theyve also been training for possible recovery of the star liner capsulher capsule begin pd they also are training for the possible recovery of the council that nasa is developing so we put a lot on the plate to be able to maintain the techniques to potentially recover astronauts from any of them and therell different in some degree. And then one more thing thats different that made a new era for support for the spaceflight is technology is different than it was in 2011 and much different than it was in 1975. We have gps. We didnt have that before. We have the networks around the globe that are much more robust than we had in 1975 to enable the global footprint for the possible recovery and rescue operation. We didnt have those in 1975 into th1975 andprovided speed al reach and the ability to provide air rescue that we didnt have a 1975. You put all these things together we are in a new era to separate the human spaceflight and were proud to be part of the team supporting nasa and with that i would actually like to return over. Let me introduce him by saying i did put him in charge of the task force 45 and hes in charge of the personal recovery forces worldwide to conduct those operations as needed and then from that perspective i would provide many other support needed from other combatant commands we coordinate with the other forces that he was at the tip of the spear and even more so with Lieutenant Colonel so id like to talk more about this obligation. Thank you for that overview. The commander of the 45th space wing, commander of the Eastern Range, commander of the 45. How did it go and affluence point did you know things were going well and you just didnt need to do anything else . Thank you for allowing us to be here and be a part of this. Its been an incredible month with the launch and then in the last couple of weeks or actually years preparing for the next and for this specifically. The director of the Eastern Range and task force 45 we had a lot of different roles on wednesday and again on saturday and first off we had our normal launch that we do to provide what we like to say Public Safety and resource protection so we were responsible for that. Wednesday folks said that the weather just wasnt right on saturday the weather cooperated and they were able to provide us the information we needed to make the right decision and then of course we also had Mission Assurance so we were right there alongside our partners to make sure that the mission was going. On the launch of side it happened to be a pretty busy challenge at the end. We had issues we were waiting for and at the weather didnt clear up until about 30 minutes later and then unusual for the Eastern Range we actually had some rain at the end and incredible folks that work the instrumentation were able to fix those and make sure we had a green range and then we were working with some issues to make sure we had all of the right data. But once we got about four minutes to go i knew we were going to be cut and the god andy activity was focused on the task force 45 where the airmen across the air force came together and across the world actually we had forces here at the air force base and in charleston and hawaii that were ready to do what they needed to do if the astronauts got into trouble so we were prepared for five years for this day and theyve had a long history. Weve been doing this mission making sure that we were prepared to help out the astronauts with an issue so they are a bunch of rescue experts and they do an incredible job. I cant say how proud i am this week and all the way up to a watching them go through. Pretty cool for me and i know for everybody else thats here at the air force base. We dont know when exactly they are coming back, but when they return . When they come back down and we can talk about more of the details of that yes they have to be prepared as they orbit back down and hopefully everything works out and they get the capsule themselves but again if there was an anomaly to be able to execute that. Host there is a video we would like to show so if that is okay lets go ahead and see the video first. With the retirement of the program in 2011, the u. S. Hasnt seen the spaceflight in almost a decade. The airmen of the 45th Operations Detachment have stated Mission Ready and have been here since the beginning of human spaceflight. Redstone rockets to those today oversea postured forces. Theyve been training and working to prepare for any type. This training allows the team to work with them and demonstrate current and future. The continued ability to ensure that it isnt their last day. Have you been training them for this idea, how long have you been doing it and what are some of the highlights for you . I appreciate you putting that together and showing that. The last two years have been getting ready for this. Weve been working as we finalize and put this rescue scenario. We are pretty small about 30 personnel here. When we get ready to execute the mission and we grow to about 150 people that use this mission. In contrast. There were 24 aircraft and seven dp vessels that were used. Today we posture 150 members in the three different locations so we have over the last couple of years we then put those plans together. We are on the hook three hours prior to that but when it lifted off is when we got our high alert foster and was ready to respond. These are the men and women that we look to and those that are saving lives and combat theater and in iraq and afghanistan they are the same ones that are here executing the mission still. Its exciting to be part of the mission a is part of history again. The rescue motto is the same as a civil search and rescue. It is humbling to be part of that culture. Host how is the preparation going . We have been. Last april we conducted a large exercise as kind of the capstone event. We had the star liner and we conducted a profile with the star liner. Each of the capsules is unique the way that we egress them from the dragon is differen dragon ie star liner which is different then the overriding capsule as well as contingency rescues. Just so people know your unit is very small so when you train do you train with the same people are different people . Its a great question. Internally it includes activeduty aiactiveduty air fo. One navy member, government civilians, contract teams and reservists that come on an so wn we get ready to do the training event, we have to get orders through the u. S. Space command to come through patrick. We coordinate all that and put together the profile and the training and then my small core of cadre trained them to do the mission and then we go out and execute the training and validation. Host when we have the launches of astronauts from russia did you also train for those missions . Specifically we have a task to support the air medical evacuation on the landing of the mission so every time they come back we have a small team over in germany and they organized a medical team in case we need to support that. When we have partner nations that fly on the commercial programs because we have partners playing on the dragon and star liner and they will train with those astronauts and be prepared to support them on our capsule just like they did for the kernel when they had the board in 2018. Host i know brian has been picking up a lot of questions from the audience but i want to ask Major General paul of this sounds very exciting as far as all the changes happening in the human spaceflight and how they would be able to support the different missions. A lot of people since we announced this event, a lot of people have asked me whats going to happen when we have more commercial human spaceflight and Space Tourism . Do you see the space force taking o up any new roles in supporting the broader commercial Spaceflight Community . I think we will have to wait and see what happens as that evolves and how the government chooses to regulate that. I think i can safely say that our need to continue space awareness will ever increase as there is more and more human activity whether it massa or commercial tourism. There will be they neede the neo prepare and someone is going to have to do that and i think it is likely the department of defense will be a part of that team. You mentioned with a rolled up the last few weeks and you said it was interesting we see a lot of the spaceflight on the commercials so it sounds like the messages they want people to see some connection between the space force in human spaceflight even that you dont fly to space. Is that reasonable to say that . They will lobby sending them any time soon. Maybe a long time from now we will be doing that but not anytime soon. We will be supporting any human for going to space for exploration in the way that was described here already today. I think any images you see in the commercials were meant to transcend anything we are dealing with today to inspire the next generation. Okay, so do you have any audience questions so far for the panelists cracks yes, i do. I have a couple of good ones. One just really builds off of what the general was just talking about for the future space force to deploy operators into space. The question is what role if any does Space Operations command half to assist future lunar operations . Sure. So, first of all, as nasa continues with this project to bring humans into the lunar sphere the need for the awareness will remain the same way that has been the need for the Space Command and awareness and protection of the International Space station and that will be necessary in the environment, too and i would expect the department of defense will with some degree assist with that awareness. We i also think that missions whether they are scientific or civil or National Security related art going to extend beyond the geosynchronous sphere in the next couple of decades and so there will be, again, a focus from a different benefit Defense Operations that extend out to that. Another audience question that we have is probably best directed to the director. Since space x. And boeing, since the launches are commercial and not nasa, how are space x. And boeing paying for Space Operations command for the rescue support and how much do you charge for a launch and reentry landing . So, i will start that. All of our activities that we do here at Cape Canaveral air force station and out at annenberg for reworwere rewor