1st Photographic Charting Squadron

1st Air and Space Test Squadron
1st Air and Space Test Squadron emblem
Active	2006–Present
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Part of	Air Force Space Command
Garrison/HQ	Vandenberg AFB
Motto(s)	First Into The Future
Decorations	Air Force Outstanding Unit Award

The 1st Air and Space Test Squadron is a unit of the 30th Space Wing of the United States Air Force, responsible for spacelift and test operations.

The squadron's operations include launching of the Minotaur I and Minotaur IV and Pegasus rockets; as well as testing the Boeing Interceptor and Minotaur II target vehicles.

The squadron's mission is to provide complete service launch and test operations for current and future space launch vehicles, targets, interceptors and experimental space systems.

The squadron was established by Headquarters, United States Army Air Corps in early 1940 as the 1st Photographic Squadron. It performed aerial mapping primarily over the northeastern United States prior to the Pearl Harbor Attack using obsolescent cargo and Martin B-10 bombers as aerial platforms. After the United States entry into World War II, equipped with Lockheed A-29 Hudsons, Beech C-45 Expeditors and Douglas A-20 Havocs (all in photographic reconnaissance configuration) and performed aerial photography and mapping in uncharted areas of Newfoundland, Labrador and Greenland for development of Northeast Transport Route for the movement of aircraft, personnel and supplies across the North Atlantic from the United States to Iceland and the United Kingdom.

The squadron re-equipped with long-range Consolidated B-24 Liberator reconnaissance aircraft and deployed to Alaska in late 1943, assisting in the establishment of landing fields in the Aleutian Islands; also to map uncharted areas of internal Alaska to establish Lend Lease aircraft emergency landing fields over trans-Alaska route from Ladd Field and Elmendorf Field to Nome.