MINNEAPOLIS — The United States has a military branch few people know about: The Space Force.
For years, shows like Star Trek have challenged us to imagine life in space. But this branch is taking the “fiction” out of science fiction.
“So many people think we don’t exist. In fact when I wear my uniform on the train on my way to work at the Pentagon, I have people staring at me basically asking are you real, “said Col. Bree Fram.
Fram, a Mendota Heights native, is an astronautical engineer and an officer in the United State Space Force.
She joined the U.S. Air Force right after 9/11, serving 18 years before joining the Space Force. She is the Chief of the acquisitions policies and processes division.
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“I figure out how we buy things so how we develop designs and acquire spacecraft and the systems that we need to run them,” Fram said.
She says while Space Force is new, its mission is not. It has a huge legacy and heritage from what the Air Force and other services have been doing in space back to the 1950s.
“So, we are not talking about aliens, though the Pentagon does have a program that investigates unidentified aerial phenomenon. The Space Force design and operates a whole suite of capabilities in space that basically enables our modern way of life,” Fram said.
Fram says things we use every day come courtesy of the Space Force.
“We design, build, and operate GPS so if you are navigating somewhere in your car and your phone is giving you directions, you’re talking to the Space Force. If you are using your credit card which is underpinned by the timing system that GPS uses that’s the Space Force,” Fram said.
Fram believes the Space Force’s mission is an important one.
“So that we understand what is going on in space that we can protect our interest there and so that we can bring those capabilities that we can deliver from space to our joint war fighting team, ” said Fram.
Fram says the Space Force is attracting the best and brightest Americans to serve. Only a small number of career fields work in the Space Force, most are STEM related.
Reg Chapman
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