25th Space Range Squadron The 25th Space Range Squadron ( 25 SRS ) is a non - flying squadron of the United States Air Force . It is assigned to the 595th Space Group , Air Force Space Command , Schriever Air Force Base , Colorado . The 25 SRS operates the Space Test and Training Range ( STTR ) . The 25 SRS is one of the oldest units in the United States Air Force , first being organized as the 25th Aero Squadron on 13 June 1917 at Kelly Field , Texas . The squadron deployed to France and fought on the Western Front during World War I as a pursuit squadron . The unit was demobilized after the war in 1919 . Re - organized in 1921 as part of the permanent United States Army Air Service , the squadron served in the Panama Canal Zone during the Inter - War period , then as part of 20th Air Force in the Pacific Theater of Operations ( PTO ) of World War II flying B - 29 Superfortress bombers . During the Cold War , it was part of Strategic Air Command , equipped with B - 47 Stratojet medium bombers until its inactivation in 1964 . Mission . The 25th Space Range Squadron is responsible for the operation of the Space Test and Training Range , a capability that allows units to exercise space capabilities in a safe , secure and realistic environment while eliminating the risk of unintended collateral effects . The 25 SRS owns the advanced concepts environment , which simulates a target , weapon system and environment for training and rapid reaction prototype development . The 25 SRS has also deployed equipment and personnel to support theater operations . History . World War I . Established as the 20th Aero Squadron in June 1917 ; later re - designated the 25th Aero Squadron after the United States ' entry into World War I . Deployed to Europe , first to England , then to the Western Front in France in late October 1918 . Assigned to the 4th Pursuit Group , 2d Army Air Service , Toul Sector , but without any airplanes . The squadron finally received some British Royal Aircraft Factory S . E . 5 s , mostly only armed with the single fuselage - mounted Vickers machine gun , and flew one mission on 10 November 1918 the day before the war ended . It was demobilized after the 1918 armistice . Panama Service . The squadron was reactivated as the 25th Aero Squadron on October 1 , 1921 at France Field the Panama Canal Zone , as part of the 6th Composite Group . It flew various biplane bombers to defend the Panama Canal . During the 1920s and early 1930s , It participated in various goodwill missions in Latin America , including the Goodwill flights to El Salvador and Nicaragua , 13 – 19 May 1935 , to Guatemala , 8 – 11 February 1938 , and to El Salvador , 19 – 22 April 1938 . The squadron also flew mercy mission to Chile following the devastating 1939 Chillán earthquake , 28 January - 13 February 1939 . The 25th Bombardment Squadron became the 25th Bombardment Squadron ( Medium ) on 6 December 1939 and then , on 20 November 1940 , the 25th Bombardment Squadron ( Heavy ) . Equipped with the Douglas B - 18 Bolo the squadron had opportunity to put its new , long - legged aircraft to the test in October 1939 , when two Peruvian flyers , en route from the United States to Lima , Peru on a long - distance flight , were reported missing between the Canal Zone and Peru . Although eventually found to have made an emergency forced landing in Ecuador , three B - 18s of the squadron conducted extensive searches of the area along the 80th meridian some 250 miles to sea . The aircraft carried enough fuel for a flight of 11 hours duration , a capability which would place them in good stead in the Command in the years to come . By 25 August 1941 , with its pre - war strength at but five B - 18s , the Squadron was re - equipped with B - 17E Flying Fortresses . After the United States entered World War II , the Squadron had deployed to Salinas , Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands ( shuttling patrols hack and forth ) with four of the B - 17Es , flying antisubmarine patrols over the Pacific approaches to the Panama Canal . These aircraft being joined by a B - 18 by February . The main body of the Squadron left Salinas by 15 February and returned to Howard Field in early 1943 , although a detachment was still in Ecuador as late as 30 June . Assignment to the 6th Bombardment Group ended on 12 May 1943 , when the Squadron was transferred to the 40th Bombardment Group and , the following month , the main body of the Squadron , which had been at Howard Field briefly between 16 May 1943 and 13 June , ended its 21 years of service in the Canal Zone , when it was reassigned to the United States . B - 29 Superfortress era . Assigned to Pratt Army Airfield , Kansas in July 1943 , being re - manned with new personnel . Received prototype and early production - model B - 29 Superfortress very heavy bombers . Trained under Second Air Force for an extended period due to Boeing technicians making modifications of B - 29 aircraft . Deployed to the new XX Bomber Command as part of the 58th Bombardment Wing in the China - Burma - India Theater , flying to bases in India via South Atlantic Transport route ; across central Africa , Arabia to Karachi . Additional modifications of B - 29s were necessary in India to accommodate very high ground temperatures ( 115 degrees F ) . From airfields in eastern India , engaged in very long range bombardment raids on Japan . The squadron participated in the first American Air Force attack on the Japanese Home Islands since the 1942 Doolittle raid on 15 / 16 June 1944 , attacking the Imperial Iron and Steel Works at Yawata on Kyushu by using its forward staging base at Hsinching Airfield ( A - 1 ) , China , for refueling . Performed a total of nine missions to Japan , also engaged in very long range attacks against enemy targets in Thailand , Manchuria , Borneo , Formosa , Burma , Malaya , Japanese - occupied China , Singapore , Saigon and Cam Rahn Bay , French Indochina . Also engaged in aerial mining of Japanese - occupied seaports in Thailand Malaya and French Indochina . Advance of American forces in the Central Pacific though the Northern Mariana Islands made new airfields available within the effective bombing range of Japan . Moved to West Field on Tinian in April 1945 , becoming part of the new XXI Bomber Command . From the Marianas , engaged in very long range strategic attacks on Japan , its first mission being on 5 May 1945 against the Hiro Naval Aircraft Factory in Kure . Air attacks over Japan were initially high - altitude daylight bombing missions against industrial , transportation and military targets , largely ineffective due to high upper level winds dispersing bombs over a wide area . By July , began low - level large area night incendiary raids on urban areas , and dropped mines in Japanese shipping lanes . Continued aerial assaults until the Japanese Capitulation in August 1945 , final combat mission taking place on August 9 / 10th attacking the Hikari Naval Arsenal . After V - J Day , the squadron dropped food and supplies to Allied prisoners in Japan , Korea , and Formosa , and took part in show - of - force missions . Demobilized on Tinian in 1946 , aircraft being returned to the United States for storage . Inactivated as a paper unit in October . Strategic Air Command and Air Combat Command . Reactivated in 1953 under Strategic Air Command ( SAC ) , receiving then second - line B - 29s for training and organization . Replaced the propeller - driven B - 29s with new B - 47E Stratojet swept - wing medium bombers in 1954 , capable of flying at high subsonic speeds and primarily designed for penetrating the airspace of the Soviet Union . In the late 1950s , the B - 47 was considered to be reaching obsolescence , and was being phased out of SAC ' s strategic arsenal . Began sending aircraft to other B - 47 wings as replacements in early 1964 , being one of the last SAC squadrons equipped with the Stratojet . Inactivated in September when the last B - 47 aircraft was retired . Reactivated in 1988 as a SAC training squadron . From 1988 to 1992 , supervised SAC B - 52H Stratofortress bomber crew training , and from 1992 to 1995 , Air Combat Command ( ACC ) B - 52H Stratofortress and then B - 1 Lancer bomber crew training program at Ellsworth AFB , South Dakota .