Gen. Lance Lord, retiring commander of Air Force Space Command at Peterson Air Force Base, highlighted the importance of space during his last scheduled news conference Wednesday.
“Space is going to be a major facilitator for our capabilities for the future,” Lord said from the air base in Colorado Springs. “If you’re not in space, you’re not in the race.”
Lord’s retirement will be effective April 1. He said the Air Force will replace him with another four-star general, but his successor hasn’t been selected.
Lord has served as commander of Space Command for about four years and has served in the Air Force for more than 37 years.
“As I was looking at my retirement order last night – 37 years, 2 months and 27 days – it looks like a lot of time as you read it in black and white,” Lord said. “But it seemed like a very short time to me, really.”
As commander, he oversees a global network of satellite command and control, communications, missile- warning and launch facilities.
He leads about 40,000 space professionals and encourages “every member of Air Force Space Command to show the folks, especially our young people out in the school systems, how important it is to be interested in science and mathematics.”
Lord said he recently bought a house in Colorado and plans to call the area “home base” for a while. He hasn’t decided what he’ll do next.
“I still have some things to offer and be part of the community in a way that I haven’t been able to before,” Lord said. “I look forward to sharing my ideas with whoever I can convince to listen to me.”
Staff writer Andy Vuong can be reached at 303-820-1209 or avuong@denverpost.com.
