Space Force guardians march during a graduation ceremony at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas, on Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. The event, hosted by the 737th Training Group, saw guardians wear the service’s new dress uniform amid the service’s growing identity. (Jonathan Mallard/U.S. Air Force )

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Space Force on Saturday will not have a big birthday celebration like the Army or Navy had this year, but the service keeps moving forward.

“Over the last six years we’ve been in a sprint to build a world-class, modern, and combat-ready force. This was only possible because of you, our Guardians,” Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman said in his birthday message. “Each of you has had a pivotal role in forging a stronger, more resilient and more capable Space Force for the nation.”

Space Force was established on Dec. 20, 2019, by President Donald Trump as the sixth branch of the U.S. military. It became the first new branch of the armed services in more than seven decades.

Saltzman added “this has been a year of tremendous growth.” The service saw the 100th space launch this year from the Eastern Range, the first time crossing the triple-digit threshold at Cape Canaveral in a single year. In July, more than 700 Guardians across 55 locations exercised with the Joint Force and U.S. allies during Resolute Space 25.

The Space Force provided precision navigation, critical intelligence and life-saving missile warning as part of Operation Midnight Hammer, the U.S. military’s strikes conducted on Iranian nuclear sites in June.

“I’m incredibly proud of our achievements, and I’m honored to celebrate this birthday with you as one team,” Saltzman said.

Trump in September reversed a Biden administration decision and announced that Space Command headquarters would move to Alabama. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth traveled to Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville this month for the relocation of U.S. Space Command Headquarters and a designation ceremony.

Trump announced the establishment of Space Command toward the end of his first term, in 2019, but it actually was a reestablishment of the combatant command created in 1985. It was shuttered by the Pentagon in 2002 as part of the post-9/11 government restructuring.

Redstone, an Army installation, was named one of six finalists for the headquarters in November 2020 after the Air Force conducted two searches for a permanent home for the Pentagon’s newest combatant command, which is charged with overseeing and controlling the U.S. military’s myriad space-based infrastructure and operations. The command was housed temporarily at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo., since it was reestablished in August 2019.

Then-President Joe Biden in 2023 decided to keep Space Command in Colorado.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on Wednesday announced that the U.S. Space Force flag will be flown at all Alabama rest areas and welcome centers through Dec. 23, honoring the Space Force’s birthday with a weeklong, statewide show of support.

“The U.S. Space Force is a critical branch of our military with a serious mission, and it deserves to be recognized as such. Alabama understands the importance of defending our nation in every domain, leading in space development and setting the pace for innovation,” Ivey said in a statement. “We are honoring the men and women carrying out this great mission and marking the Space Force’s birthday with the respect it has earned by displaying the Space Force flag statewide. Alabama is proud to fly it.”

While the Space Force does not have a main celebration, local celebrations have begun. Cake-cutting ceremonies were held at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, and the U.S. Air Force Academy.

The Army and Air Force Exchange Service is celebrating the Space Force’s birthday with a sweepstakes offering more than $15,000 in prizes, available to authorized military shoppers who enter at ShopMyExchange.com/sweepstakes from Dec. 19, 2025, through Jan. 19, 2026.

“The Exchange is honored to commemorate this occasion with a sweepstakes that recognizes the Guardians who serve with excellence,” Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Rich Martinez, the Exchange’s senior enlisted adviser, said in a statement.

Winners will be selected and notified no later than Jan. 30.

U.S. Space Force Brig. Gen. Matthew Cantore, Deputy Commander of Space Training and Readiness Command, and U.S. Air Force Academy Cadet 1st Class Alvaro Fonseca cut a cake celebrating the Space Force’s sixth birthday on Dec 4, 2025, at the academy’s Mitchell Hall in Colorado Springs, Colo. The birthday is Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025, but cadets celebrated early due to winter break. (Ray Bahner/U.S Air Force)

U.S. Space Force Brig. Gen. Jacob Middleton, the commanding general of U.S. Space Force in Europe — Space Forces Africa, and Capt. Jaymie Islam, SPACEFOREUR-AF current operations deputy chief, cut a birthday cake celebrating the Space Force’s sixth birthday at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, Dec. 16, 2025. (U.S. Air Force)