In tight confines 60 feet underground, Air Force missileers rotate 24-hour shifts at ICBM missile launch control centers in pairs, waiting for a message they hope never arrives: An order from the president of the United States directing a nuclear strike.

A joint Air Force and Space Force team successfully launched an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile early morning on Wednesday from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

The leaders of the House Armed Services Committee are calling on the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and Space Force to identify obsolete programs and weapons for potential cuts as Congress begins crafting its annual defense policy bill.

The Air Force test squadron responsible for evaluating U.S. intercontinental ballistic missile capability plans a test launch late Tuesday or early Wednesday from Vandenberg Space Force Base on California’s central coast.

CEO Dave Limp said much of the workforce reduction is aimed at trimming management to focus on manufacturing and launch cadence. That would include more buildup of its New Glenn rockets that launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Launch Complex 36, but also its smaller suborbital New Shepard rocket from Texas.

Digantara, a 7-year-old startup, plans to establish a satellite assembly, integration and testing facility in Colorado Springs. Much of the company’s work is for defense and space markets in the U.S., its CEO said; the company also has started to work with Colorado Springs-based Space Command and the separate Space Force.

Buckley Space Force Base in Colorado will not process and house detained immigrants after all, U.S. Rep. Jason Crow said.

In 2024, the Space Force was able to get extra congressional funds to pursue commercial solutions to a similar bottleneck on the Western Range at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. A similar request for the Space Coast will be made for 2025.

A U.S. military base in Aurora, Colorado, will be used to process and temporarily house migrants facing deportation, as Immigration and Customs Enforcement steps up raids under President Donald Trump’s sweeping crackdown.

Space Force guardians will participate fully in the 60th Presidential Inauguration on Jan. 20 in Washington, a significant milestone for the youngest branch of the military.