U.S. Air Force astronaut Col. Michael “Hopper” Hopkins will be the first astronaut member of the U.S. Space Force in a ceremony expected to take place while aboard the International Space Station, Space Force confirmed Tuesday.
“The U.S. Space Force plans to voluntarily transfer U.S. Air Force astronaut Col. Michael ‘Hopper’ Hopkins to the U.S. Space Force once Colonel Hopkins is on board the International Space Station,” said a Space Force statement sent to the Washington Examiner.
“For more than 60 years, men and women of the military services have helped fill the ranks of the astronaut corps – Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force and Coast Guard. Space Force, as the newest military Service, is looking forward to contributing to this legacy,” the statement continued.
Space Force commander Gen. Jay Raymond is currently working with NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine to confirm the venue for the ceremony as a way of highlighting the longtime partnership between the Department of Defense and NASA.
Raymond first mentioned the possibility of an outer space swearing-in last Tuesday during a virtual discussion with the National Defense University Foundation.
“We’re looking to swear him in to the Space Force from the International Space Station,” he said at the time.
Raymond indicated the ceremony would take place while in orbit on the one-year anniversary of the nation’s newest service, Dec. 20.
Hopkins is scheduled to launch at 7:49 p.m. on Nov. 14 as part of a NASA crew of four from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to the International Space Station.
He would be part of the second-ever manned commercial mission aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft.
Hopkins, a Missouri native, was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Air Force in January 1992. He was selected in July 2009 as one of nine members of the 20th NASA astronaut class, graduating from astronaut candidate training in November 2011.
Hopkins has already logged 166 days in space, including spacewalks totaling 12 hours and 58 minutes.
