‹‹ Colorado Matters

What Does It Mean To Be A ‘Space Soldier’?

Listen Now
10min 10sec
National Guard space operations: The final frontier
U.S. Army
Capt. Jennifer Staton, a space operations officer, Sgt. Cassandra Quinones and Pfc. Miranda Yost, geospatial engineers, use mapping software during the multi-state large-scale, natural disaster emergency response exercise Vigilant Guard 2014, hosted by the Kansas National Guard in Salina, Kan., Aug. 4-7. The Soldiers are a part of Army Space Support Team 30, 117th Space Support Battalion with the Colorado National Guard. (Photo by Capt. Benjamin Gruver, 105th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment)

Space Support Team 26 may sound like something out of science fiction, but in reality, this unit of a half dozen Colorado national guard soldiers recently deployed to Kuwait. They're helping with the war in Afghanistan and other military goals in Southwest Asia. Space Support teams assist soldiers on the ground using assets outside the atmosphere.

Major Scott Sharkey with the 117th Space Battalion of the Colorado National Guard explains what goes into being a space soldier.