
Five weeks before the establishment of the U.S. Space Force on Dec. 20 last year, Gen. John "Jay" Raymond wrote a memorandum to DoD and space industry officials laying out a Range of the Future 2028 initiative to move to all-autonomous launches by the start of fiscal 2026. Raymond was then the commander of U.S. Space Command and Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) and would soon become the first chief of space operations for the sixth military service. "AFSPC launch…