The United States Space Force launched its very initial national security satellite with a smaller staff because of the social distancing protocols for COVID-19. The satellite is worth about 1 Billion USD and it is the last one in the Advanced Extremely High-Frequency Series. Another result of the pandemic is the postponement of the station’s name change. Cape Canaveral Air Force Station would become Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Because of the pandemic, the viewing area was completely closed. Because of this, there were fewer people watched the historic liftoff from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. All non-essential workers were not allowed to enter the launch control room to decrease the crowd size. All the surfaces between people had to be cleaned and sanitized. This limited the movement of the people who were required to stay during the launch, which maintained the COVID-19 protocols for the base.