A former longtime Army officer took the helm of the Peterson and Schriever Space Force bases on Thursday, along with other installations in Hawaii, New Hampshire and Greenland.
As Commander of Space Base Delta 1, Col. Kenneth Klock will oversee over 4,300 people, who provide seven Space Force installations with support services, such as civil engineering and medical support. He is replacing Col. David Hanson and becomes the fourth person to hold the role.
Klock transferred into the Space Force from the Army two years ago and most recently served as the commandant of the National Security Space Institute. He has worked in space-focused positions since 2006.
He said he was inspired to transfer into the Space Force in part after hearing the former Chief of Space Operations, Gen. John Raymond, talk about the need for greater diversity from different service branches in the Space Force.
“I thought I had some warfighting culture to share,” Klock said.
Military operations in space have become more tense in recent years, with China investing heavily in new satellites.
Klock started out as an armor officer and deployed during Operation Iraqi Freedom as a battle major for the multinational force. After transitioning to space-focused work, he served at U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command, Joint Force Space Component Command and U.S. Space Command.
The decades of experience in military space made the move to the Space Force a natural…
