Table Of Content

Beyond Horizons Beyond Horizons A Half Century of Air Force Space Leadership Revised Edition David N. Spires Senior Editor George W. Bradley III Associate Editors Rick W. Sturdevant Richard S. Eckert AirForce SpaceCommand in associationwith AirUniversity Press 1998 ForsalebytheU.S. Government PrintingOffice SuperintendentofDocuments,Mail Slop:SSOP, Washington,DC20402-9328 Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-PublicationData Spires,DavidN. BeyondHorizons:ahalfcenturyofAir Forcespaceleadership/DavidN.Spires;Senioreditor, GeorgeW.Bradley III;associate editors,RickW.Sturdevant,RichardS.Eckert. Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. 1. Astronautics,Military-United States.2. SpaceWarfare.3. SpaceWeapons. 98-125908 ISBN 1-58566-060-4 FirstPrinting July 1998 SecondPrintingSeptember2001 ThirdPrintingJuly 2002 To the men and women who madeAirForcespacehistory andthosewho recorded theirachievements. (cid:9)(cid:9)(cid:9)(cid:9)(cid:9)(cid:9)(cid:9)(cid:9)(cid:9)(cid:9)(cid:9)(cid:9)(cid:9)(cid:9)(cid:9)(cid:9)(cid:9)(cid:9)(cid:9)(cid:9)(cid:9)(cid:9)(cid:9)(cid:9)(cid:9)(cid:9) Contents Foreword Preface Editor's Note Introduction.The Dawn oftheSpaceAge Arnold and von Karman Form aPartnership 2 NACA and theRocketeers Lay theGroundwork 3 Rocketeers Lead theWay 4 WartimeProvides theMomentum-Arnold and von Karman Establish theFoundation 7 i. Before Sputnik: The Air ForceEnters the SpaceAge, 1945-1957 13 RandProposes aWorld-Circling Spaceship 14 TheAirForceShunsBallistic Missiles 16 Ballistic Missiles Receive NewLife 21 TheAir ForceStudiesSatellites 24 SatellitesReceive NewLife 27 Eisenhower FacestheThreatofSurpriseAttack 29 Trevor Gardner Energizes theMissile Program 31 TheAir Force Commits to the FirstMilitarySatellite 35 TheAdministration Commits to theFirstCivilian Satellite 38 TheAirForceReconsiders a"Civilian"Satellite 43 Retrenchment ontheEve ofSputnik 44 RetrospectiveFrom theThreshold ofSpace 47 2. From Eisenhowerto Kennedy: The National Space Program and the Air Force's Quest for theMilitary Space Mission, 1958-1961 50 Sputnik Creates a"National Crisis" 51 TheAirForceSeizes theInitiative 53 TheGovernmentOrganizes forSpace 56 ARPA Takes Control 57 NASAJoinstheCompetition 6o NASA TakesShape 65 Renewing theQuestfor theMilitarySpaceMission 68 TheAir ForceSeeks to Consolidate Its Position 8o vn TheMilitarySpaceMissionGoesto theAir Force 86 TheAir ForceRiseto MilitarySpacePreeminence 93 3.The Air Forcein theEra ofApollo: A Dream Unfulfilled 96 TheAir ForcePosition in the Springof1961 97 Seizing theInitiative 101 Confronting theMcNamara Defense Department 112 TheAirForcePlansandPrograms forSpaceLeadership 116 Developing a"Partnership" with NASA 119 TheAir ForcePursues aDyna-Soar andaSpaceStation 120 Setting Course onaManned Orbiting Laboratory 126 An End and aBeginning 133 4. From the Ground Up: The Path from Experiment to Operations 136 Artificial EarthSatellitesBecome Operational 137 Ground-BasedSpaceSurveillanceComesofAge 161 AFleetofSpaceVehiclesSets theCourse 162 SpaceInfrastructureProvides theSupport 165 Organization Providesthe Focusfor Space 168 Vietnam OfferstheFirstMilitarySpaceTest 169 TheMilitarySpaceCommunity in Transition 171 5. Organizing for Space: TheAir Force Commits toSpaceand an Operational Space Command 174 ASpaceCommunity in Disarray 176 TheNational Debate over Detente andArmsControl 178 TheAirForceCommitstoaSpaceShuttle 18o TheGrowingProminenceofSpaceSystems in theLate1970s 184 SovietASATTestingPrompts SpaceInitiatives 188 ADCOM'sDemiseand theSearch for SpaceConsensus 193 TheOrganizational PreludetoanAirForceSpaceCommand 196 TheReaganAdministration's Plan for Spacein1981 200 TheAirForceFormsaSpaceCommand 202 An EndingandaPointofDeparture 207 6. From StarWars to the GulfWar: TheAir Force Moves to Create an Operational Capabilityfor Space 209 SpaceCommand Sets an Operational Agenda 211 AUnited States SpaceCommand JoinstheSpaceCommunity 217 TheGrowingConflictOver SpaceRolesand Missions 219 The ChallengerDisasterCreatesan Uncertain Launch Future 221 viii The Response to theChallengerShockWaves 228 General PiotrowskiChampions OperationalSpace 230 TheBlue Ribbon PanelProvides a SpaceAgenda 234 AirForceSpaceCommandGainsthe Space Launch Mission 238 TheDecade in Retrospect 241 7. Coming ofAge: Operation Desert Storm and Normalizing Military Space Operations 243 Operation Desert Shield-Preparation 245 Operation Desert Storm-Combat 255 Lessons Learned and Normalizing MilitarySpace 259 8. AnAir ForceVision for the Military Space Mission: A Roadmap to the 21stCentury 270 AGeneration ofLeadershipin MilitarySpaceActivities 270 AnAir ForceVision forAnother Generation ofSpaceLeadership 275 Appendices 285 Notes 299 Glossary 342 Bibliography 346 Index 369 FOREWORD nthelate summerof1992,ChiefofStaffoftheAirForceGeneral Merrill A. MCFeak askedmeto chairapanelto studytherole oftheAir Forcein spaceinto the21" century.This second Blue Ribbon Panelon space,whichcamefour years aftera similar studycompletedinthelate i98os, had as itsprimary objectivesto conduct acomprehensive reviewoftheAirForce's existingspacepolicy,organization,and infrastructure,to definetheservice's futurerole in space, to develop a strategyto carryoutthatrole,andto make appropriate recommendationsto the seniorleader-ship oftheAirForce.TheChiefbelieved recentpolitical,military, and economic developments necessitated anew look at military spaceoperations.These included thecollapse oftheSovietUnionandtheend oftheColdWar, theemer- genceofa"multi-polar" world,ashiftin national securitystrategy,theimplications ofOperation DesertStorm,andtheworldwide proliferation ofsophisticatedweap- ons.Changingdomestic priorities, decliningdefense budgets, and Congressional interest in militaryrolesand missions also contributed to theneed for an evaluation ofthedevelopment,acquisition, andoperation ofspacesystems.Our panel, which consistedofsome thirtyAir Forceofficers andcivilians,metat Maxwell AirForce Base from earlySeptember to earlyNovember 1992.Earlythefollowing yearthe Chiefapprovedandreleased a reportofour findings andrecommendations. Amongourrecommendationswas one thatcalled formaking"integrated aerospace employmentafundamentalprinciple...in alltrainingandeducation Beyond Horizons programs."WeurgedtheAir Forceto examineallofitstraining, education,and personnel policies to develop a comprehensive approach to teaching spaceto the aviation community, andconversely, introducing spacepersonnel totheprinciples andrequirements ofmoretraditional air warfare.This bookrepresents amajorstep toward fulfilling thefirstofthesetwo goals. Intheaftermathofthepanel's reportIaskedDr.Richard Hallion,theAirForce Historian,toadd ahistoryoftheAirForcein spacetohisprogram's book-writing plans. Subsequent discussionsoftheproject ledtoadecision to produce thestudy through acontract letbyAir ForceSpaceCommand's Directorate ofHistory.Since contractingoutsuch studies was afamiliar practice in theAirForceHistoryPro- gram,it promised to give usan academic-qualitybookin areasonableamountof time.Mr.George W."Skip"Bradley,Director ofHistoryat AirForceSpaceCom- mand,led theteam whichultimatelyselected Dr.DaveSpires to writethestudy. BeyondHorizonsis bynomeansthefirstattempt to tellthestoryoftheAir Force in space, although itmaybe firstto present thatstorytoawide audience,both within theservice andinthegeneralpublic.Official organizationalhistories and monographsprepared by thecivilian and blue-suit historiansoftheAir Force HistoryProgramhave recorded and documentedtheevolution oftheservice's space programs sincetheirearliest days in thepost-WorldWar11era.Classification issues andthenatureofthehistoryprogram itself,however, limitedreadersoftheseworks primarily to thosealreadywell awareoftheAir Forcespacestoryortotheactual participants in theseefforts.Perhaps ofgreaterimportance, thewaytheAirForce organized and managed its spaceeffort createdan environment somewhatdetached andinsulated from themainstream flying AirForce.As aresult, knowledgeofthis vital partoftheservice's historyand heritage remained closetedand to acertain extentinaccessible to both servicemembers and scholarsofAirForcehistory.Itwas my intentioninrequestingthepreparation ofthis studyto openupthestoryofthe AirForceinspace to a much wideraudience and by doingsoto generate alevelof interest inthesubjectarea thatwouldresult in additional, morefocused mono- graphs and papers. Thepublication ofBeyondHorizonscomesat asignificantpointin thehistoryof theAir Force, one with implications well beyond thecoincidentrecognition ofthe 5o" service's anniversary.Recentlytheservice announceditsvisionfor theAir Force ofthe21"century.Centraltothis vision, theleadershipoftoday's AirForceagrees, is atransitionfrom an airforcetoan airandspaceforceon an evolutionarypath to aspaceandairforce.Clearly, as theservice movesin this directionoverthecoming years, awareness oftherootsoftheAirForce's spaceheritage mustincreaseand broaden.Forservice members, thetransitionnecessitates agreater appreciation of thispartofour historytofosteran understanding ofthechanges currentlytaking placeoremerging on thehorizon.Scholars ofAirForcehistoryand othersin the xu