The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) is a United States service academy in El Paso County, Colorado, immediately north of Colorado Springs. It educates cadets for service in the officer corps of the United States Air Force and United States Space Force. It is the youngest of the five service academies, having graduated its first class 64 years ago in 1959, but is the third in seniority. Graduates of the academy's four-year program receive a Bachelor of Science degree and are commissioned as second lieutenants in the U.S. Air Force or U.S. Space Force. The academy is also one of the largest tourist attractions in Colorado, attracting approximately a million visitors each year.
Susan Jane Helms is a retired United States Air Force lieutenant general and NASA astronaut. She was the commander, 14th Air Force ; and commander, Joint Functional Component Command for Space at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
Carol A. Mutter is a retired United States Marine Corps lieutenant general. She is one of the first women in the history of the United States Armed Forces to be appointed to a three-star grade, the first in the Marine Corps. She retired from the Marine Corps on January 1, 1999. Her last active duty assignment was as Deputy Chief of Staff, Manpower and Reserve Affairs at Marine Corps Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Dana H. Born is a lecturer in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and a retired brigadier general in the United States Air Force and was the Dean of the Faculty at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. She is the first woman to hold that position.
Ellen Marie Pawlikowski is a retired four-star general of the United States Air Force. She last served as the commander of Air Force Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base from June 8, 2015, to the end of July 2018, managing some 80,000 people and $60 billion in Air Force programs annually. Pawlikowski retired from the Air Force on September 1, 2018, after 40 years of service. She currently serves on the board of directors for Raytheon Technologies, one of the largest aerospace and defense companies in the world, and is a Judge Widney Professor at the University of Southern California's Viterbi School of Engineering.
Brigadier General Cary C. Chun is a retired senior officer of the United States Air Force. He served as the Deputy Commander, Operations and Interagency Integration, Joint Functional Component Command for Space, United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM), and the Director for Mission Operations, National Reconnaissance Office. In this role, he led all Department of Defense space forces aligned with USSTRATCOM and provided tailored, responsive, local and global effects in support of national, USSTRATCOM and combatant commander objectives. As Director for Mission Operations, he led operations for all NRO overhead reconnaissance systems, ground stations, operational communications, and the operations center used to conduct intelligence activities essential for the national security of the United States and its allies.
Teresa A.H. Djuric is a retired United States Air Force brigadier general. Her last assignment was deputy director, Space and Intelligence Office, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, The Pentagon, Washington, D.C.
John William Raymond is a retired United States Space Force general who served as the first chief of space operations from 2019 to 2022. The first guardian, he served as commander of the United States Space Command from 2019 to 2020.
Nina Marion Armagno is a retired United States Space Force lieutenant general who served as the first director of staff of the United States Space Force from 2020 to 2023. She is the service's first female general officer and the only officer to have commanded both the 30th Space Wing and the 45th Space Wing. Before transferring to the Space Force, she was a major general in the United States Air Force, where she served for over 32 years.
The Inspector General of the Department of the Air Force is responsible for conducting investigations and inspections as directed by the Secretary of the Air Force, Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force, and Chief of Space Operations. The position was originally established after World War II as The Air Inspector, which was carried over from the United States Army Air Forces. The current mission of the Inspector General is prescribed by Title 10 and Title 32 of the United States Code to develop United States Air Force (USAF) and United States Space Force (USSF) policy to assess readiness, discipline and efficiency with a vision to help shape senior leader decisions affecting the readiness of the USAF and USSF to strengthen the nation's defense.
Andrew Armacost is the 13th and current president of the University of North Dakota, and a retired brigadier general in the United States Air Force. He previously served as the dean of the faculty of the United States Air Force Academy.
Kristin Elizabeth Goodwin is a brigadier general in the United States Air Force (USAF). A transport pilot after graduating the Air Force Academy, she moved on to bombers before assuming commands. She served as the USAF Academy's commandant of cadets, a post from which she was removed due to an Air Force Inspector General investigation. As of August 2020, she was the chief of staff of the United States Space Force's Space Operations Command.
The Space National Guard is the proposed National Guard component of the United States Space Force.
Donna D. Shipton is a United States Air Force lieutenant general who serves as the military deputy to the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics. She previously served as the deputy director and commander of the Space Force Element to the National Reconnaissance Office.
JoAnne S. Bass is a senior noncommissioned officer in the United States Air Force and the nineteenth Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force. She became the Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force, and the first female to hold the highest senior enlisted rank in any United States military branch, on August 14, 2020, having been selected for the position on June 19. She is also the first person of Asian-American descent to hold the highest senior enlisted position in the Air Force. At the time of her selection, she was the Second Air Force's Command Chief Master Sergeant at Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi, which she had reported to in July 2018. Air Force News reported "incoming Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. CQ Brown said Bass brings skills, temperament and experience that the job requires and an outlook on leadership that meshes with his own", and that he "could not be more excited to work side-by-side with Chief Bass."
The United States Space Force is organized by different units: the Space Staff, the field commands, and the space deltas.
Troy Lynd Endicott is a United States Space Force brigadier general who serves as the director of global space operations of the United States Space Command. He previously served as the assistant deputy chief of space operations for operations, cyber, and nuclear. Prior to that, he was the commander of the 460th Space Wing.
This is a list of all commanders, deputy commanders, senior enlisted leaders, and chiefs of staff of the United States Space Command.
