A space force is a military branch of a nation's armed forces that conducts military operations in outer space and space warfare. The world's first and, as of 2021, only independent space force is the United States Space Force, established on 20 December 2019.[1] The Russian Federation previously had the Russian Space Forces organized as independent troops (rod) from 1992 to 1997 and 2001 to 2011, however it was not organized as a military service (vid).[citation needed]