Narrator: This is the inside of a radome,
playfully called "golf balls" by Space Force guardians.
These radomes house satellite dishes
that help guardians detect incoming missiles
sent by foreign adversaries,
a crucial piece of equipment
that has saved hundreds of American lives.
Reporter: It was the largest-ever
ballistic-missile attack on Americans.
Narrator: On January 8, 2020,
Iran fired missiles at the Al-Asad air base in Iraq,
where 2,000 American troops were stationed.
Our troops right here at Buckley
were able to detect the missiles
and then report the specific areas at risk at Al-Asad
and afford the troops on the ground the opportunity
to escape and get out of the way.
And as a result, nobody died.
Narrator: Since its inception in 2019,
the United States Space Force
has quickly become a crucial component of the US military.
But many Americans still don't understand
what exactly this branch does.
I like the idea of a Space Force.
I mean, I don't know if we need it,
and I'm sure there are better ways we could spend our money,
but it sounds awesome. It really does.
Narrator: In reality, Space Force guardians
work from bases on the ground
to help protect assets up in space.
There's a possible event in sector 52.
Narrator: Insider was granted access to
Buckley Space Force Base in Aurora, Colorado,
to see how guardians detect incoming missiles
and to learn more about the newest branch
in the US military.
Sean Kennedy: Originally, my plan was to go Air Force,
but when I gave my job list to my recruiter, he's like,
"Hey, all these jobs are either being transferred
or are currently in the Space Force.
Would you like to essentially switch
from Air Force to Space Force?"
I immediately was like, "Yep, switch me."
Narrator: All enlisted Space Force junior guardians
start their career at Lackland Air Force Base.
That's because the Space Force recently
split off from the Air Force,
creating the sixth official US military branch.
So we transitioned from the Air Force to a Space Force
to put that level of focus from a programmatic,
resourcing, and manpower perspective.
Because at the end of the day,
when it comes to the protection of the space domain,
that focus is imperative.
Narrator: After basic military training,
junior guardians begin their specialized classroom training
in a program called STARCOM.
Once I was done with basic, they immediately
sent me over to Vandenberg. From there,
we learned everything fundamental we needed to learn,
from space training, from satellites
to telescopes to simple stars.
Narrator: Guardians move on to more hands-on training
when they arrive at their assigned mission delta.
A space delta is a Space Force organization
that is assigned a particular mission area.
Narrator: Within the Space Force, the operations wing,
or Space Operations Command,
has nine mission deltas, each with a different focus.
For example, Space Delta 6, known as Cyber Delta,
focuses on cybersecurity.
From GPS to making payments on your credit cards
to making phone calls
to communicating with anybody in the world,
all of that comes down to what we have available in space.
And if those space assets are contested
by adversaries or whatnot, we lose that ability
to function at our peak performance.
Narrator: The largest delta, Space Delta 4,
is headquartered here at Buckley Space Force Base.
So, Space Delta 4's mission, per se,
is to be able to protect,
to guard against missile attacks
launched against the United States or allies,
as well as deployed troops worldwide.
Narrator: At Buckley, junior guardians
do on-the-job training for three months
in a mission management course.
And we'll just drill them with different experiences,
different lessons, and we'll have them
conduct operations on the simulator.
Narrator: The simulator at Buckley
uses real-life scenarios to train guardians.
Due to the sensitive nature of the mission,
we were not permitted to film the screens,
which could reveal top-secret areas of interest.
But we were allowed to document a training session
from an approved vantage point.
There is a possible event in sector 52.
We are being trained to be the first line of defense.
We are learning how to correctly and accurately
collect and identify the systems
any of our adversaries could be throwing at us.
Narrator: To detect incoming missiles,
Delta 4 uses a space-based infrared system, or SBIRS,
11 satellites in space that orbit around
either the equator or poles
and scan Earth's surface for heat anomalies.
That infrared data is sent down from the satellites
to these giant radomes, which house satellite dishes
that are strategically pointed
at areas of interest around the world.
Infrared data is presented in a way
on our display panels, if you will.
Missile launch confirmed.
Impact area located in sector 42.
Narrator: Junior guardians call authorities
to inform them of possible events,
so they can alert the targeted areas.
Sabrina Sharpe: 52. Hard copy, this is Vortex out.
There's a lot of pressure,
but they also teach us how to do it correctly
and as calmly as possible.
Make sure we speak up a little bit.
But great job getting confirmation of missile launch.
And finally, outstanding getting the information out
to our allies and partners,
making sure that they were all on the same page with us.
Do you guys have any questions?
Narrator: After junior guardians
have finished their mission management training,
they can begin their job on the operations floor.
Due to the operations floor's 24/7 active role
in missile detection, cameras are rarely allowed.
But we were able to observe a couple of guardians
as they kept watch over the radars.
Sharpe: What we do impacts
almost everyone in their day-to-day lives.
Whether they're here, whether they're downrange,
like, it's life or death.
Cruz: The mission is accomplished
by the young men and women sitting at the operations floor.
And we put a lot of trust
and a lot of responsibility on these folks,
because we have trained them to be that good.
Right now in this stage of training, I'm still
a little nervous because I am not fully confident in myself.
But I know eventually, later on in training,
I will be able to do good on the ops floor.
Space Force is the president's boldest idea
that he got from a Buzz Lightyear Happy Meal toy.
[audience laughing]
Narrator: When the Space Force was first announced,
it became the subject of late-night punchlines.
There's even a Netflix series poking fun at the branch.
The president is creating a new branch, Space Force,
[laughs]
which Mark will run.
Hmm. What?
Jackson: The show provides a framework of
notional Hollywood ideas of what the organization's about.
A lot of this misperception is just a lot of unknowns
and curiosity about what Space Force is.
Cruz: When in reality, the Space Force was created
out of the recognition that space is so important
to our way of life that it deserves to be protected.
Narrator: The Space Force also gets confused
with its civilian counterpart, NASA.
So, NASA, being our exploration
as well as scientific branch of the government,
they're looking out beyond the stars,
trying to look out, get all that scientific data,
as well as looking at manned missions.
On the Space Force side, we're looking more inwardly,
making sure that we're looking terrestrially
to help our ground forces, air forces,
as well as our allies and partners.
People constantly ask us, or if they see me in uniform,
in a Space Force uniform, they're like,
"Oh, have you been to space?"
Like, "When's the last time you've been to space?"
There's actually very few operators that do go to space.
Lucky for them.
What we do is operate all of our assets within space.
Narrator: The Space Force is constantly growing
and evolving. On August 4, 2022,
right before our visit to Buckley,
the Space Force launched GEO-6,
the sixth SBIRS geosynchronous Earth-orbit satellite,
into space.
Our success is not so much what we do to an adversary.
Our success is more measured in terms of
what an adversary does not do to us.
Because we stand guard.
This job is 24/7.
It is something that is necessary,
and our mission does not stop, no matter what.
Hard copy, this is Vortex out.