Forces from South Korea and the United States responded to simulations of GPS jamming and other satellite attacks by North Korea during a tabletop exercise in May 2025. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) hosted U.S. Space Forces-Korea (SPACEFOR-KOR) for the discussion-based Polaris Lynx exercise, the Korea Times reported. The event drew about 40 participants, including military officials and space security experts. The JCS said it will hold regular exercises with the U.S. to enhance the two allies’ space capabilities and interoperability. South Korea is seeking to bolster its space capabilities as North Korea ramps up efforts to orbit…
Apogee
Plans dating back to 2016 for an organization of African space interests came to fruition in April 2025 with ceremonies marking the creation of the Cairo-based African Space Agency (AfSA). A central objective of AfSA is to enhance space missions across Africa, ensuring optimal access to space-derived data, information, services and products, the agency said on its website. All 55 nations of the African Union are represented in the new agency. Its 10-member governing council consists of members from Algeria, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Malawi, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria and Rwanda. “Space is no longer a luxury; it is a…
The teacher has slipped away and left the afternoon’s work to his students. Fourteen of them sit with their laptops and water bottles around a U-shaped group of tables while a 15th, their leader this day, stands at the open end and points to slides on the wall above him. With the end of the school year approaching, these men and women in their 20s and 30s are ticking off the progress they’ve made as a group. Questions are quickly answered or designated for follow-up, labor-saving hacks are suggested, a chuckle arises over one action option, and at 30 minutes…
Like all those enrolled in the Schriever Space Scholars Program, Paul-Andre Johansen is both student and teacher — absorbing an elite military education while bringing to class the perspectives he learned during 20 years on ships and in staff positions with the Norwegian Navy. Johansen, a lieutenant commander from Bodø in the mountainous coastal region of far northern Norway, is one of five international students attending the Schriever program for intermediate leaders and its associated West Space Scholars Program for senior leaders. The 10-month programs, now in their second year, are a Washington, D.C.-based partnership between the United States Space…
PHOTOS BY NASA Twenty-five years ago, a former U.S. Navy SEAL and two Russian cosmonauts paved the way for others to live for long durations on the International Space Station (ISS). Five crews already had docked at the ISS, but the longest previous stay was only a week. When the Expedition 1 crew arrived for a four-month mission on November 2, 2000, it opened a new chapter in human space flight and kicked off a quarter-century of continuous human presence on the space station. The crew consisted of seasoned space veterans with interesting life experiences. Expedition Commander William “Bill” Shepherd,…
Dillon Kinsey is used to speaking before groups, starting with the briefings he gave as an analyst and now as an instructor and course developer with his U.S. Space Force squadron. Nothing before, though, was quite like the group he addressed one morning in April 2025 — 2,000 people representing the world’s top space interests at the 40th Space Symposium to hear him introduce speakers such as the U.S. chief of space operations. Just 22, Spc. 4 Kinsey had been hand-selected from his work at Peterson Space Force Base across town in Colorado Springs, Colorado, to serve as a moderator…
The United States Space Force is taking a multitiered approach as it prepares for a new era in space defense. With an eye toward China and Russia’s growing counterspace capabilities, the service isn’t relying solely on advanced spacecraft to maintain its edge. The force also relies — in addition to collaboration with allies and industry partners — on its ability to field a combat-credible force of specialized, highly trained Guardians, officers and civilians to meet the service’s high-tech demands. Space Force Gen. B. Chance Saltzman has long prioritized workforce readiness, even before taking on the mantle of chief of space…
U.S. military leaders have long touted partnerships with allies, commercial entities and academic institutions as fundamental to deterring aggression. At U.S. Space Command (USSPACECOM), this multipronged approach takes on greater significance, particularly when it comes to colleges, universities and academic organizations. “Leveraging the collective strength of commercial, interagency and academic enterprises has been critical to USSPACECOM since its establishment 41/2 years ago,” U.S. Space Force Gen. Stephen N. Whiting, commander of USSPACECOM, told the Senate Armed Services Committee in February 2024. “It will remain foundational to our success moving forward, and its continued growth and development remains a key focus…
Before communications satellites started beaming signals to enable international TV broadcasts, electronic credit card transactions, even email and social media, there was the Synchronous Communications Satellite program, or Syncom. Launched in the early 1960s and consisting of Syncoms 1, 2 and 3, the program laid the groundwork for today’s massive geosynchronous communications satellites. Back then, though, it existed as a small experimental spacecraft program operated out of Hughes Aircraft Co., founded by reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes. Harold Rosen, a Hughes electrical engineer, brought the idea for the geosynchronous satellite to fellow engineer Thomas Hudspeth and former Hughes employee Donald Williams,…
PHOTOS BY Axiom SPACE More than 40 years after anyone from Hungary, India or Poland experienced the exhilaration of spaceflight, the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle lit up the skies above Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 25, 2025, heralding the return of the three nations to space for a 14-day journey that would mark their first visit to the International Space Station (ISS). The feat was accomplished through scientific collaboration, public-private partnerships and most importantly, rigorous training with United States partners Axiom Space, NASA and SpaceX. To prepare for their historic mission, the astronauts had to undergo almost…