AHC: An Indenpendant US Space Military Branch

With a POD of 4 October 1957 or after can there be an independent "space force" branch of the United States military and how soon? And what culd it look like by 2016?
 
Unfortunately, no matter how cool this idea is, it doesn't make sense because the military purposes of space fit too well into the USAF's mission statement.

In general, militaries get new branches because the old one's purpose is fundamentally unsuited for some purpose (there are some exceptions - the Soviets had many independent military forces as a safeguard against mutiny; the de facto independence of the US Marine Corps comes from a similar place). The USAF, for example, like the British RAF it was modeled on, came about to facilitate strategic bombing (and reconnaissance), as it was felt that army and navy generals and admirals had a tendency to use the airplanes for support or their respective forces rather than as an independent, far-reach method of project force. The advent of nuclear weapons added especial emphasis here as the early post-War years saw air power as the best way of launching or defending from a nuclear attack.

Space assets, however, are used largely for the same purposes. Things is space are high up. The nature of orbits combined with their great heights means that they cover huge portions of the earth (even the lowest low earth orbit satellites typically cover regions several degrees of latitude and longitude wide). Surveillance satellites take pictures from high up of things potentially deep in enemy territory - which mission was performed by specialist aircraft before they were available. Weaponized satellites could theoretically deliver potentially earth-shattering payloads anywhere in the world - which was a mission performed by specialist aircraft before they were replaced by ICBMs [and theoretically satellites]. Even "rods from God" style long-reaching tactical weapons are more the kind of thing that the USAF provides than the USMC. Communications satellites fit well into the niche that AWACS filled, etc.

So, I think it would very unlikely, because space just fits too well into the USAF's portfolio.
 
The author William H. Lovely wrote two fiction books about a more militarized U.S. Space Command, with a type of aerospace fighters called makosharks, a smaller spacecraft called a Marko, and a space station named Themis. It was under air force control, and most of the military personnel were air force. The books are called Delta Blue, and Delta Green. You can only pretty much get them in e-book form.
 
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