The House Armed Services Committee voted Wednesday on its version of fiscal 2018 defense policy bill that would establish a new military branch to oversee the U.S. Air Force’s space programs and missions, Federal News Radio reported Thursday.
Reps. Mike Rogers (R-Alabama) and Jim Cooper (D-Tennessee) introduced into the House panel’s National Defense Authorization Act a provision that would direct the Defense Department to form the U.S. Space Corps by January 2019 and order the Air Force secretary to manage the new organization.
The measure would also require the appointment of a Space Corps chief of staff and ask DoD to report to Congress in March and August 2018 on how it will establish the new military branch.
“We started working on it vigorously in September, and we’ve had countless meetings with a number of experts who have advised us as to how this should be construed,†Rogers said.
“This idea for a space corps as one of the solutions to Air Force space came from the Rumsfeld Commission in 2001,†he added.
