40th Anniversary Celebrated for Space Test Program

On November 8th, the Department of Defense Space Test Program celebrated its 40th anniversary at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Past and present personnel examined the program’s history, current missions and took a look toward the future of space research. As the keynote speaker, Lt. General Michael Hamel, Space and Missile Systems Center Commander, stated, "The output and results of this program over the four decades have just been absolutely extraordinary. The number of programs that can trace their roots back to working with the Space Test Program is legendary.”





The technologies behind most military satellite programs such as GPS, military communications satellites, space-based surveillance and weather systems flying today had their initial demonstrations as Space Test Program risk reduction experiments. The Space Test Program was established in 1965 by the Department of Defense as a multi-user space program whose role is to be the primary provider of spaceflight for the entire Department of Defense space research community. The U.S. Air Force is the executive agent for the program.




The Space Test Program’s legacy began when it launched Thor-Burner II out of Vandenberg AFB, California, on June 29, 1967. This rocket took two satellites into space to improve geodetic survey accuracy worldwide. During its productive history, the Space Test Program has flown 467 experiments and conducted 187 spaceflights, as of November 2007. Based at Kirtland AFB, the DoD Space Test Program is administered by the Space Development Group, Space Development and Test Wing, Space and Missile Systems Center, Air Force Space Command. STP is a cost-effective way to evaluate early operational capabilities, demonstrate new space systems and technologies and reduce risk by flight testing prototype systems and components—Albuquerque, New Mexico