History
- See also: 45th Operations Group; 45th Launch Group; 6555th Aerospace Test Group for additional lineage and history.
Organized to maintain and operate the proving ground facilities in coordination and collaboration with other agencies of the national guided missile program. Provided static and flight testing to meet requirements of Army, Navy, and Air Force research and development programs, including operational experimentation and training.
From May 1950 to May 1951 had separate operating agency status, assigned directly to the United States Air Force. Maintained and operated the Eastern Test Range and affiliated facilities in support of Department of Defense (DOD), National Air and Space Administration, US Air Force, and other test and evaluation agencies, 1951-1977 and after 1979.
Operated "Down-Range" facilities at Antigua, Ascension Island, and Cape Canaveral, Florida, 1951-1977 and after 1979.
After Oct 1979 launched DOD payloads into orbit and collected flight data for evaluation of ballistic missile systems launched from Eastern Launch sites for DOD, NASA, and commercial customers. Gave support for DOD, NASA, and commercial manned and unmanned space programs while providing host-base responsibilities at Patrick AFB, FL.
45th Space Wing accomplishments are:
- Completing the Initial NAVSTAR II Constellation
- U.S. Military Technology Missions
- Foreign Military Missions
- Civilian/Commercial Space Launches
- Missions have included:
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- X-Ray, Gamma Ray, Infrared, Microwave Anisotropy, and Extreme Ultraviolet Astronomy Missions
- Solar Wind Missions
- Asteroid Probes and Comet Encounters
- Missions to Mars and Mercury
- Kepler Spacecraft ‘Planetary Search’ Mission
- PALAPA B2R and PALAPA B4
- Britain’s BSB-R2 and Telenor’s THOR II and THOR III
- ASC-2, AURORA II and SATCOM 4
- INMARSAT-2 F-1 and INMARSAT-2 F-2
- DFS KOPERNIKUS 3
- GALAXY I-R and GALAXY IX
- KOREASAT-1 and KOREASAT-2
- BONUM-1
- GLOBALSTAR-1 through GLOBALSTAR-7
- DELTA III, Delta IV, Titan IV and Atlas V Missions
- NASA Space Shuttle launches
- Atlas V Carrying X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle
- NASA'S Geostationary Environmental Satellite (GOES-P)
- Atlas V launch of Solar Global Observatory
- Delta IV launch of Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) high-capacity communications satellites
- Intelsat-14 commercial communications satellite
- NASA Ares 1-X launch
- USAF Delta II final launch in 2009, inactivation of 1st Space Launch Squadron (45th LCG)
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