Space Force Renames Unit After Star Trek’s Spock

The US Space Force has enlisted a SPOC. The 14th Air Force unit is being transferred from the Air Force to Space Force. Upon joining Space Force, the unit will be renamed Space Operations Command. Its acronym will become SPOC, which seems like a clear nod to the iconic Star Trek character Mr. Spock. Leonard Nimoy originated the character in Star Trek: The Original Series. Zachary Quinto plays a younger version of the character in the rebooted Star Trek film series. Most recently, Ethan Peck played Spock in the Star Trek prequel series Star Trek: Discovery on CBS All Access.

According to the Air Force, “The SPOC provides space capabilities such as space domain awareness, space electronic warfare, satellite communications, missile warning, nuclear detonation detection, environmental monitoring, military intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance, navigation warfare, command and control, and positioning, navigation and timing, on behalf of the USSF for USSPACECOM and other combatant commands.”

On December 20, 2019, the Trump Administration officially launched Space Force, the new US Military arm tasked with defending American democracy in space. Space Force launched with a modest staff of 200 people and a $40 million budget to cover its first year. That was enough for SpaceX founder Elon Musk to herald it as the beginning of the Star Trek era. Musk took to Twitter after Space Force’s founding moments to declare “Starfleet begins,” comparing Space Force to the interstellar explorers of the Star Trek universe. This isn’t the first time Musk has compared Space Force to Starfleet. In September, when asked on Twitter if he supports Space Force, Musk replied, “Definitely for Space Force. We need to make Starfleet real.”

While Starfleet is a part of Star Trek, Space Force is getting its own television series, albeit one with a different tenor. A Space Force television series starring Steve Carrell is headed to Netflix. Netflix announced the new series with a video teaser in January. The teaser’s message said, “On June 18, 2018, the federal government announced the creation of a 6th major division of the United States Armed Forces. The goal of the new branch is ‘to defend satellites from attack’ and ‘perform other space-related tasks’… or something. This is the story of the men and women who have to figure it out.”

Carell is reteaming with The Office‘s Greg Daniels for the new series. In Space Force, Carell is joined by co-stars John Malkovich (The New Pope), Ben Schwartz (Parks and Recreation, House of Lies), Diana Silvers (Booksmart, MA), and Tawny Newsome (Bajillion Dollar Propertie$). Recurring guest stars include Jimmy O. Yang (Silicon Valley, Crazy Rich Asian) and Alex Sparrow (Unreal, The Vatican Tapes). BAFTA-nominated director Paul King (Paddington, Paddington 2) will direct two episodes of Space Force, including the pilot.