TYB
Delta 12 welcomes new commander
June 5, 2024
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Space Delta 12 welcomed its new commander during a change of command ceremony at Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado, on May 31, 2024.
U.S. Space Force Col. Sacha Tomlinson succeeded U.S. Space Force Col. E. Lincoln Bonner during the ceremony, which was officiated by Space Training and Readiness Command commander, Maj. Gen. Tim Sejba.
A 1992 graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Tomlinson enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1993, serving nearly six years as a Biomedical Equipment Technician.
She commissioned through Officer Training School and completed Undergraduate Space and Missile Training in 1999.
Throughout her more than 30-year career, Tomlinson has served in a variety of positions, including assignments as a space surveillance crew commander, instructor, operations group chief of training, test director, ballistic missile defense officer, and detachment and squadron commander.
Prior to assuming command of Delta 12, Tomlinson served as the Test Enterprise Division Chief for Space Training and Readiness Command.
As the commander of Delta 12, Tomlinson leads the integrated test and evaluation of U.S. Space Force capabilities to rapidly field combat-credible weapon systems and tactics.
Delta 12’s priorities include increasing test expertise for combat space systems and implementing integrated tests for combat space systems through Integrated Test Forces and their subordinate Capability Test Teams.
In her inaugural address as Delta 12 commander, Tomlinson expressed her enthusiasm for the new role.
“I am ready for the challenge of growing a test enterprise to arm our warfighters with relevant, credible, and timely tests, and the truth about our weapon systems to prevail in this era of great power competition,” Tomlinson said.
She concluded her remarks with a call to action for the men and women of Delta 12.
“Find someone else to raise them up, grow the next generation of leaders and innovators, share your knowledge and passion freely and enthusiastically,” she said.
“Hold us accountable, push us to excellence … this is the way we grow ourselves, our community, and our nation to be something worth defending and worth our sacrifices.”
In Bonner’s outgoing remarks, he emphasized the importance of the test and evaluation mission.
“Putting combat credibility into our weapon systems and the test mission is a visible demonstration to America’s adversaries that we have the capability to act, that we have the capability to thwart aggression,” Bonner said.
“But it is also foundational to our will to act because we have confidence in the combat effectiveness of our weapon systems, their lethality, their survivability, their ease of use, and it gives our senior leaders the confidence to act should the need arise.”
In his final remarks as the commander, Bonner reflected on the team’s accomplishments and the significance of their efforts.“What this team does every day is foundational to the nation’s security, both to avoid war and to fight and win should the need arise.
I am so proud of everything we have done. Test and evaluation is all about stepping into the unknown, learning what’s there, and figuring it out.
So, I just want to say thank you for bringing that spirit to our mission every day. I’m going to miss being a part of that, but I am so excited to see how you bring that forward to Colonel Tomlinson and what you do with that spirit and approach in the future.”
https://www.starcom.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/3797794/delta-12-welcomes-new-commander/
CSO visits NSSI, 319th CTS students
Published June 5, 2024
PETERSON SPACE FORCE BASE, Colo. – U.S. Space Force Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman visited the National Security Space Institute and met with students attending the Enlisted Undergraduate Space Training course during an immersion at Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado, on May 31, 2024. Hosted by Space Delta 1, EUST lays the groundwork for a career in space operations, covering a broad spectrum of space topics to include military space history, space policy, orbital mechanics, and cyberspace operations.
https://www.starcom.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/3797678/cso-visits-nssi-319th-cts-students/
STARCOM commander kicks off Academy's annual Azimuth program
June 5, 2024
U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. – U.S. Space Force Maj. Gen. Tim Sejba, Commander of Space Training and Readiness Command, provides opening remarks during the first day of the Azimuth program at the U.S. Air Force Academy, in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on June 3, 2024.
Azimuth is a unique summer program for U.S. Air Force Academy cadets as well as Navy and Army cadets, and ROTC students considering a commission in the U.S. Space Force.
Azimuth is a three-week joint undergraduate nationwide space education and training program. Azimuth’s overall goal is to inspire men and women to become officers of character, motivated to lead in the Space Force.
https://www.starcom.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/3797654/starcom-commander-kicks-off-academys-annual-azimuth-program/
https://www.usafa.edu/military/azimuth-space-program/
https://www.newsnationnow.com/space/ufo/secret-ufo-research-washington/
Top-secret UFO research grips Washington: Here’s what they’re saying
JUN 5, 2024 / 07:05 PM CDT
Unidentified flying objects (UFOs) are taking up a lot of space in the political arena, with a group of senators recently alleging the existence of a longstanding program that retrieves and reverse engineers “nonhuman” technology.
NewsNation’s extensive reporting on UAPs (unidentified aerial phenomena) spurred congressional action, starting with an exclusive interview with retired Maj. David Grusch — a U.S. Air Force Veteran and UFO whistleblower — in June 2023 where he alleged the U.S. possesses “quite a number” of “nonhuman” vehicles.
Since then, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., lawmakers introduced provisions to look into this clandestine program and establish a government-wide UAP records collection.
The latter was ultimately signed into law by President Joe Biden last December as part of the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act.
“Some of the most high-profile names in recent Senate history were involved in this effort,” Marik Von Rennenkampff, a former analyst at the Departments of State and Defense, told NewsNation. “They are cautious politicians.
They would not just put out 64 pages of legislation that mentions nonhuman intelligence. There it is, in black and white.”
The National Archives and Records Administration has presented precise instructions to federal agencies: reveal everything they know about UAPs by Oct. 20. The National Archives will have a legal mandate to release those records to the public if deemed appropriate.
So why are lawmakers convinced the U.S. government is concealing a top-secret UFO program?
What lawmakers are saying
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) — December 13, 2023
The top Democrat in the Senate has been a staunch advocate for more UAP transparency, noting that “multiple credible sources” have told him that information is being “withheld from Congress.”
“The United States government has gathered a great deal of information about UAP over many decades but has refused to share it with the American people. That is wrong and additionally breeds mistrust,” Schumer said.
The late Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), former Senate majority leader — April 27, 2020
Reid, whose home state Nevada is the home of the famed Area 51, pushed to increase funding for any and all UFO-related activity.
In 2020, when the Pentagon released footage of an unidentified aerial phenomena, Reid responded that while he was glad the footage was released, “it only scratches the surface of research and materials available,” Reid wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“The U.S. needs to take a serious, scientific look at this and any potential national security implications. The American people deserve to be informed.”
Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) – December 13, 2023
Rounds — who led the amendment with Schumer — said the proposed legislation is modeled after the JFK Assassination Records Act.
Rounds said doing so has “successfully guided the release of records to the American public on another very sensitive matter of high interest to the American people.”
“And it does one more thing that we really need to recognize, and that is that there is, we believe, information and data that has been collected by more than just the Department of Defense, but by other agencies of the federal government as well, and by allowing for an outside, independent collection of these records we can make progress in terms of dispelling myths and providing accurate information to the American people.”
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Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) — July 27, 2023
In an interview with NewsNation, Rubio said that the latest string of UAP whistleblower claims should be taken seriously.
“I will say I find most of these people — at some point, or maybe even currently — have held very high clearances and high positions within our government, so you do ask yourself: ‘What incentive would so many people with that kind of qualification… have to come forward and make something up?’” Rubio said.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) — December 9, 2021
Gillibrand has maintained over the years that understanding UAPs is critical to national security in the United States.
“Our national security efforts rely on aerial supremacy, and these phenomena present a challenge to our dominance over the air. Staying ahead of UAP sightings is critical to keeping our strategic edge and keeping our nation safe,” Gillibrand said in a statement.
What is the government saying?
The Pentagon has repeatedly denied that a top-secret UFO program exists. In March, it issued a report to Congress shutting down all theories, claiming any evidence of UAP was the result of “misidentification.”
“No verifiable evidence that any UAP setting represented extraterrestrial activity that the U.S. government or private industry has ever had access to extraterrestrial technology, or that any information was illegally or inappropriately withheld from Congress,” Pentagon press secretary Pat Ryder told reporters in a press briefing.
“Alleged hidden UAP reverse engineering programs either do not exist or were misidentified authentic National Security Programs unrelated to extraterrestrial activity or technology exploitation.”
Ryder added: “What we found is that claims of hidden programs are largely the result of circular reporting by a small group, repeating what they heard from others, and that many people have sincerely misinterpreted real events or mistaken sensitive U.S. programs as UAP or being extraterrestrial exploitation.”
NASA also released its own investigation — which involved 16 scientists and other experts, including retired astronaut Scott Kelly — that stated, “At this point, there is no reason to conclude that existing UAP reports have an extraterrestrial source.”
More legislation has been presented in recent weeks
Despite the Pentagon and NASA’s findings, Schumer is expected to once again introduce sweeping legislation to further look into UAP programs within the next couple of months, a source familiar says.
At the House level, Republican Rep. Tim Burchett — one of the leading advocates in the Capitol advocating for UAP transparency — recently launched a new bill requiring Biden to direct the heads of each federal agency to declassify all documents related to UAPs.
“This bill isn’t all about finding little green men or flying saucers,” Rep. Burchett said. “It’s about forcing the Pentagon and federal agencies to be transparent with the American people. I’m sick of hearing bureaucrats telling me these things don’t exist while we’ve spent millions of taxpayer dollars on studying them for decades.”
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Boeing Starliner mission encounters new issues (helium leaks) en route to ISS
6 June 2024
Key Issues Encountered:
Thruster Failures:
Four of the reaction control system thrusters failed during a planned test of the spacecraft’s manual flight control capability.
The crew managed to get two of the thrusters operational again.
These thrusters, located on the service module, are crucial for fine-tuned trajectory adjustments.
Helium Leaks:
Three helium leaks have been identified. One was known before launch and deemed manageable.
Two additional leaks were discovered after reaching orbit.
Helium is used to fire the spacecraft thrusters and is non-combustible and non-toxic.
Despite these issues, mission managers have confirmed that Starliner maintains sufficient helium reserves, and the leaks are not a safety concern for the crew, vehicle, or mission.
Adjusted Docking Schedule:
Initially expected to dock at 12:15 ET, Starliner’s docking was rescheduled to a window between 13:33 and 14:19 ET (UTC-4).
The spacecraft maintained a safe distance of about 250 metres from the ISS until it was deemed “orbit-safe.”
Crew’s Response and Safety:
Astronauts Butch Willmore and Suni Williams were instructed to close two valves due to the helium leaks.
The crew was assured of their safety and told to rest while ground teams continued troubleshooting.
Timeline and Impact:
The astronauts are expected to spend about eight days aboard the ISS, though this may change depending on the resolution of the helium leaks.
The earliest potential landing date is June 14, with mission objectives taking precedence over the timeline.
This mission represents a significant step for Boeing and NASA in expanding crewed spaceflight capabilities and demonstrates resilience and problem-solving in addressing unexpected challenges during space missions.
https://www.aviation24.be/space/starliner/boeing-starliner-mission-encounters-new-issues-helium-leaks-en-route-to-iss/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybaWL0J-Tbw