With President Trump’s signing of the National Defense Authorization Act tonight, the U.S. Space Force has officially lifted off. Senior defense officials and military leaders said that the law allows the new service to begin to execute on months of planning. But “thousands” of decisions have yet to be made. It’s not yet settled what missions, equipment, and facilities the new branch will take over from the Army, Navy, Missile Defense Agency and other Defense Department agencies. New uniforms must be designed. It’s not even clear what the new service’s officers and enlisted military personnel will be called.

So what does happen today? The Space Force will absorb U.S. Air Force Space Command, a major command within the Air Force charged with training and equipping for activities and operations related to space. Some 16,000 uniformed and civilian military personnel (3,400 officers, 6,200 enlisted personnel) will be transferred to the Space Force. For now, they will remain officially airmen, or civilians, within the Air Force. Officials explained that the personnel had been detailed temporarily to new force but they would eventually have the opportunity to transfer into the new service and leave the Air Force.

Gen. John Raymond, who currently leads both Air Force Space Command and U.S. Space Command, a unified combatant command, will immediately become the “Chief Space Officer,” a role he could serve for an entire year without a congressional appointment, according to the NDAA. But U.S.Space Command will remain independent of the Space Force.

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