“Does this have to do with aliens? Was it really used on an asteroid or WAS it a spaceship?”
Why did the Catholic church build an observatory in Arizona? Why almost overnight did we set up a space command? Hmmm.
We didn't "almost overnight" set up a space command.
People have been talking about and considering a space force since the 1960's. Heinlein's "Space Cadet" was published in 1948.
The United States Space Force merely unifies and builds upon existing resources, and puts them, logically, under a unified command.
We did not have an "Air Force" until 1947, although we had been using aircraft in combat since the Civil war (balloons as spotters and observers).
One reason they built a Vatican Observatory is that Arizona has some of the darkest skies in the world. It was built on top of a mountain, so there isn’t as much atmosphere up there to interfere with studies. It was opened in 1993, so, I think it had nothing to do with Apophis.
The first Vatican Observatory was in Rome. When Rome became too polluted and bright, they moved out to Castle Gandolfo in the mountains nearby. When the sky conditions got bad there, they opened up the site in Arizona.
The current “Pope’s Astronomer” Br. Guy J. Consolmagno, is an American and very entertaining to listen to. He wrote a great book for introduction to Astronomy called “Left Turn at Orion”.
As for Space Command, previous Presidents didn’t see a need yet. Trump did.
Also located there is what some refer to as the L.U.C.I.F.E.R. Telescope.
The Max Planck Institute For Extraterrestrial Physics, https://www.mpe.mpg.de/ir/lucifer (not a link) - confirms that it used to be referred to by that name and that it was changed.
The LBT (Large Binocular Telescope) is a collaboration between astronomical institutes in Germany, Italy, and the US. The telescope is located on Mount Graham, near Tucson, Arizona at an altitude of about 3200 m.
LUCIFER (LBT Near Infrared Spectroscopic Utility with Camera and Integral Field Unit for Extragalactic Research) is the near-infrared instrument for the LBT. The name of the instrument was officially changed to LUCI in 2012.