El Segundo's biggest military installation got its own holiday.
Mayor Chris Pimentel declared Thursday, Aug. 13 "United States Space Force Space Systems Command Day," presenting the proclamation in person at Los Angeles Air Force Base as hundreds of Guardians, civilian workers and their families celebrated the command's fifth anniversary.
"Understand that everyone in this city and in this region takes great pride in your presence and understands the critical role you play, and we join with you in the defense of our great country," Pimentel told the crowd, according to the Space Force.
Space Systems Command was established on Aug. 13, 2021, at the El Segundo base as the Space Force's acquisition arm, responsible for developing and fielding military satellite constellations, missile-warning systems, secure communications and next-generation GPS. It manages a $15.6 billion annual space acquisition budget for the Department of Defense.
Economic footprint
The base's economic weight in the South Bay is hard to overstate. According to the most recent Economic Impact Analysis published by the South Bay Cities Council of Governments, LA Air Force Base supports 27,716 total jobs, generates roughly $5.9 billion in economic output and directly employs 6,881 military and civilian personnel on-site. SSC alone holds 423 contracts in Los Angeles County worth $1.2 billion.
Those figures come from fiscal year 2024, the latest publicly available data.
Five years of milestones
USSF Col. Andrew Menschner, SSC's deputy commander, opened the anniversary event by framing the command's creation as more than a reorganization. He said SSC achieved a record-breaking 181 national security launches in a single year, representing 82 percent of the world's total, and boosted Other Transaction Authority awards by 473 percent through the Space Enterprise Consortium. That consortium enabled the 27-hour Victus Nox responsive launch demonstration.
SSC now operates with nine Portfolio Acquisition Executives who own end-to-end missions and eight System Deltas bridging space acquirers and operators.
Kids launched paper rockets
The celebration also featured a STEM fair where children built paper rockets and fired them from a pneumatic launcher, competing for altitude of 100 to 150 feet. Nicole Tibbetts, SSC's STEM executive lead, organized the activities. Civil Air Patrol cadets Senior Airman Oscar Garza, 14, and Airman Basic Zachary Moon, 16, mentored younger children, demonstrating Cubelets robot blocks alongside the rocket builds.
Deepening city-base ties
The proclamation caps a year of closer engagement between El Segundo and the base. Pimentel joined a Space Base Delta 3 civic and aerospace leaders visit on May 11 alongside representatives from the offices of Congressman Ted Lieu, state Sen. Ben Allen and LA County Supervisor Kathryn Barge, according to LA Air Force Base.
No follow-up vote or hearing is scheduled. The proclamation is ceremonial, but SSC's next operational milestone is NSSL Phase 3, a dual-lane approach to maximize commercial competition for national security space launches.
