The U.S. Space Force is preparing a groundbreaking in-depth cooperation, planning to directly use commercial astronauts and private pilots from private aerospace companies in future military orbital missions for the first time. This trend shows that the US military's reliance on commercial aerospace power is extending from simple satellite launches and technology procurement to more operational manned spaceflight and orbital vehicle missions.
It is reported that General Michael Guetlein, deputy secretary of space operations of the U.S. Space Force, publicly stated at a recent industry summit that the Space Force does not rule out directly hiring commercial manned spacecraft pilots to perform national defense missions in the future. Getlein pointed out that the explosive growth of the commercial space industry has provided the military with unprecedented flexibility and redundancy. If private companies can put personnel into orbit and perform complex operations at a lower cost and more frequently, the military can completely use "service outsourcing" to hand over specific orbital maneuvers, satellite maintenance and even space domain awareness tasks to these highly trained private professionals.
This potential change is highly consistent with the "Tactical Responsive Space" strategy that the U.S. Space Force has been vigorously promoting in recent years. The military wants to be able to rapidly deploy assets within hours or days in the face of orbital threats or emergencies, rather than relying on traditional military procurement cycles that take months or even years. By integrating private pilots and commercial spacecraft into its contingency readiness network, the Space Force can gain immediate manned orbital intervention capabilities without maintaining a large force of active astronauts.
Industry analysts pointed out that this move will also completely blur the boundaries between traditional military aerospace and commercial civilian aerospace. Currently, companies such as SpaceX’s Crew Dragon and Axiom Space have proven their ability to independently transport and manage orbital compliance personnel without relying on national space agencies. If the plan is finally implemented, these private "space drivers" that used to mainly serve scientific research, tourism and International Space Station logistics will officially transform into an important extension of US national security and military space operations.