The station was home to the Air Force Systems Command operational unit known as the Air Force Satellite Test Center (STC, colloquially called the "stick)," and other non-Air Force Systems Command operational organizations. By 1979, the Air Force Satellite Test Center was renamed the Air Force Satellite Control Facility. On January 26th 1994, Sunnyvale AFS was renamed Onizuka AFS in honor of Air Force Lt. Colonel Ellison S. Onizuka, an astronaut who died in the Challenger explosion. Ultimately, both Onizuka Air Force Station and the Air Force Satellite Control Facility were transferred from Air Force Systems Command to Air Force Space Command and was operated by the 21st Space Operations Squadron, a geographically separated unit (GSU) of the 50th Space Wing. The non-Air Force System Command operational organizations remained under their respective commands.