A Space Pro

About A Space Pro

Spacepower is a strategic podcast from the Space Force Association exploring the leaders, ideas, and operations shaping the space domain. Hosted by SFA Founder Bill “Hippie” Woolf, the show features conversations with senior military leaders, policymakers, and industry experts on deterrence, maneuver, technology, and the evolving role of space in national security. Episodes include in-depth interviews and solo analysis breaking down the trends defining the future of spacepower.

Publisher

Space Force Association

Category

business

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

28 Jan 2020

Latest episode

20 Aug 2026

Latest episodes

71 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   20 Aug 2026

   He Enlisted to Get Out of Town. Now He's the Space Force's #2. The Story of VCSO Gen. Bratton

   He joined at eighteen because he wanted the tech school that would get him out of town the longest. This is the season finale of Spacepower Podcast. Thank you for watching, listening, and sharing episodes. We are taking a short break, and we will be back with a new season soon. We cannot wait. Forty years later, he is the Vice Chief of Space Operations, the number two officer in the United States Space Force. There was no plan. There was no map. There was a recruiter and a string of people who kept opening doors as he was ready to walk through them. In this episode of the Spacepower Podcast, SFA Founder and host Bill Woolf sits down with Gen. Bratton, Vice Chief of Space Operations, to close out the season with the question every young person asks when they look at this service: is there a path for me? The answer, as Gen. Bratton tells it, is that there are a hundred of them. He was an E-1. He was a staff sergeant in the Arizona Air National Guard fixing ground radars. He was a captain who walked into his commander's office and asked for a job earmarked for a lieutenant colonel. He flew high altitude balloons over the Nevada ranges. He volunteered for a deployment to Baghdad. He found out he was going to build STARCOM in a four car parking garage. In this conversation, Gen. Bratton discusses: Why he told his recruiter he wanted whichever school kept him away from home the longest, and how that decision set up everything after it The doors and windows framework he has used to make every career decision since, and why he says he closed as many as he opened What it was like to be the first National Guard officer sent to the space track of the Weapons School How balloon experimentation at Nellis solved a real problem for troops calling in air support from Afghan valleys Walking into a three and four star Army planning session in Iraq as the only space officer in the room, with no shared language The moment US Space Command landed on the table, and why he missed the parallel effort to stand up the Space Force entirely Standing up an entire field command from zero to change of command in roughly six months Why he believes lieutenant colonels and senior NCOs change more lives than any general ever will What today's specialists and second lieutenants are being taught that he did not learn until he was a colonel Why he says the Guardians coming up now will be better at space warfighting than he ever was Want to be in the room for the conversations that come next? Tickets for Spacepower 2026 are available now at https://attendspacepower.org (https://attendspacepower.org). Hosted by Bill Woolf Produced by Ty Holliday Guest: Gen. Bratton, Vice Chief of Space Operations, United States Space Force He enlisted in the Air National Guard as a radar maintainer, commissioned through Officer Training School, and served as the first commander of Space Training and Readiness Command. He now serves as the second highest ranking officer in the Space Force. Learn more about the U.S. Space Force: https://www.spaceforce.mil/ (https://www.spaceforce.mil/) Join SFA: https://ussfa.org/ (https://ussfa.org/) Attend Spacepower 2026: https://attendspacepower.org (https://attendspacepower.org) Subscribe for more conversations on spacepower, national security, and the future of the space domain.

2. 

   13 Aug 2026

   The Mayors Building America's Next Launch Corridor

   Two American cities had land, airspace, and a hunch. Neither had a guarantee. This is the story of what it actually took to turn that hunch into reality, and a bet that's still being placed. The commercial and national-security space economy has outgrown its old coastal footprint, and the launch, testing, and infrastructure demand it's generating has nowhere left to go but inland. That shift is landing in city halls that never expected to be part of the space conversation, and the mayors making the call are becoming the model for how it gets done. In this episode of the Spacepower Podcast, SFA Founder and host Bill Woolf sits down with Mayor Lori Blong of Midland, Texas, and Mayor Douglas Nicholls of Yuma, Arizona, to unpack what it actually took to turn two very different cities into space and defense hubs, and why the decision came down to local leadership, not geography. Why the pace of commercial and national-security launch demand is pushing new capacity away from the coasts and into the interior of the country Why Midland's spaceport license is a horizontal-launch designation, not vertical, and what that actually means for anyone picturing rockets over their neighborhood Why a binational agreement signed this month between Yuma, the state of Arizona, and the state of Sonora, Mexico ties directly into the safety case for a southern launch trajectory over the Gulf of California What lifting the federal ban on supersonic flight over domestic airspace actually unlocked for hypersonic corridor testing between Midland and Spaceport America Why Midland's real bet wasn't the money, it was holding onto a spaceport designation Why neither mayor thinks the long-term payoff is one company launching rockets, and what they're actually building around it instead. What each mayor tells a resident who assumes this is just insiders and developers cashing in How a "three-body problem" of city, economic development corporation, and industry has to move together for any of this to work, and what happens when it doesn't Space development isn't happening to these cities from the outside anymore, it's being decided by them. Midland and Yuma make the case that a city's place in the space economy has less to do with geography and more to do with whether its leadership will hold a bet through the years before it pays off. Hosted by Bill Woolf Produced by Ty Holliday Mayor Lori Blong, Mayor of Midland, Texas Mayor Blong has led Midland for three-plus years as the city built out the Midland Spaceport Business Park, now home to AST SpaceMobile and a growing base of defense and aerospace testing companies including Firehawk, Castelion, LeoLabs, and Starfighters. Mayor Douglas Nicholls, Mayor of Yuma, Arizona Mayor Nicholls has led Yuma's push to add a commercial launch site alongside Yuma Proving Ground and Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, including a binational aerospace development agreement signed with the state of Sonora, Mexico. Learn more about Midland's spaceport development: midlandspaceport.com (http://midlandspaceport.com) Learn more about the City of Yuma: yumaaz.gov (http://yumaaz.gov) Learn more about the U.S. Space Force: https://www.spaceforce.mil/ (https://www.spaceforce.mil/) Join SFA: https://ussfa.org/ (https://ussfa.org/) Subscribe for more conversations on spacepower, national security, and the future of the space domain.

3. 

   6 Aug 2026

   Gen. Saltzman & Jennifer Saltzman: The Partnership Behind the Space Force

   Nobody handed them the answers. When Chance Saltzman got engaged, two weeks before shipping out for missile training, neither he nor Jennifer knew what military life would demand. When he chased a brand-new weapons school, the personnel office told him it was "a terrible idea, an unproven path." So he did it. The through-line of a 35-year career and marriage turned out to be four words: we'll figure it out. That instinct built more than a family. It helped build a service. The Space Force is still writing its identity, what it means to be a Guardian, what traditions to keep, what culture to forge from scratch, and few people have shaped that answer more directly than its Chief of Space Operations. This is the story of the character behind the stars. In this episode of the Spacepower Podcast, SFA Founder and host Bill Woolf sits down with General Chance Saltzman, Chief of Space Operations, and Jennifer Saltzman, back in the Space House where Bill first interviewed a brand-new CSO four years earlier, for a candid conversation about marriage, character, and how you build something that lasts without a blueprint. In this episode: - Why "an unproven path" was the exact reason Saltzman chose the Weapons School, and how a warning to stay away became the best career advice he ever ignored - How a physics scholarship he couldn't finish funneled him into ICBM operations, and why he was certain he'd gotten the better end of the deal - What it actually means that Guardians conduct combat operations from garrison, watch an adversary act in space, then drive home for soccer practice and help with math homework - The 2007 Chinese anti-satellite test, told from the ops floor, and the moment there was no hand signal for "they destroyed the satellite" - How the "floodgates" from missiles to space turned a generation of missileers into the Space Force's first operators - The surreal night a Hollywood director had dinner at their house, and what saying "yes" has to do with a whole career Standing up a service from nothing: no flag, no song, no uniform, and why "you have to pay the tax" of becoming real - Guardian #89, the 89th Weapons School space graduate, Bowling Green High class of '89 — and why Saltzman calls it karma - Saltzman's one regret as CSO - Why Jennifer is his "best sensor", the things Guardians will tell her that they'll never tell the CSO How a marriage that "grew up together" with the service became a lesson in connection and community The Space Force will be defined by its technology and its doctrine. But this conversation is a reminder that services are built by people, and that identity, partnership, and the willingness to walk a path no one has mapped are as foundational as any capability in orbit. Hosted by Bill Woolf Produced by Ty Holliday General Chance Saltzman General B. Chance Saltzman is the second Chief of Space Operations, U.S. Space Force, and a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. A former ICBM operator and space Weapons Officer, he was among the first general officers to commission into the Space Force and helped stand up its foundational operational, readiness, and intelligence processes. Jennifer Saltzman A three-decade military spouse and advocate for Guardian families, Jennifer has been a constant presence alongside Chance across every assignment, and, in his words, his "best sensor" for what's really happening in the force. Learn more about the U.S. Space Force: https://www.spaceforce.mil/ (https://www.spaceforce.mil/) Join SFA: https://ussfa.org/ (https://ussfa.org/) Subscribe for more conversations on spacepower, national security, and the future of the space domain.

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

97,569

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

3 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

4 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 32 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

17

Social presence

0

YouTube

85

Engagement

30

Contact A Space Pro

Guest appearances

Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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