Beyond Horizons: A Half Century of Air Force Space Leadership

by Spires, David N.

Overview: Beyond Horizons is the most comprehensive history of the US Air Force in space published to date. Commissioned in the mid-nineties by Air Force Space Command to tell the Air Force space story after the space community gained exposure during the 1991 Gulf War, Dr. Spires develops a holistic narrative of space in the Air Force from 1947 to 1997. The book covers the Air Force’s first forays into space, to the hype and hope of the Cold War space race, through the operationalization of military space after Apollo, and ending with the first major theater integration of space effects onto the battlefield during the Gulf War and the efforts to incorporate lessons learned to form the vision that would move the Air Force into the 21st century.

• In the Introduction, Spires describes the partnership between General “Hap” Arnold and Dr. Theodore von Karman as when “the Air Force space saga began.” Both men favored satellite and rocket research and together they gave the Air Force a strong focus on research and development. The National Advisory Council for Aeronautics (NACA, the precursor to NASA) is also introduced as being an important future space player with their supersonic flight program. Project Rand and the Towards New Horizons study established the importance of long-range technological forecasting to the Air Force. Was von Karman’s forecast correct? What important military space missions were being considered during this time?
• Chapter One takes the reader from 1945 through 1957. The Soviet Union was rising, the Cold War was heating up, thermonuclear weapons were increasing in power and decreasing in weight, and the Air Force had to confront the problem of the satellite and ICBM. What was the original Air Force opinion on ICBMs? What about satellites? How did the “New Look” influence the satellite and missile debate? Why was Sputnik a watershed event in the history of space?
• After Sputnik, Spires argues in Chapter Two that 1958-1961 was “the watershed years of the national space program and the Air Force’s place within it.” The Air Force moved quickly to seize the initiative in space during this time. However, new organizations such as the Advanced Research Projects Agency (now DARPA), revamped old ones (NASA from NACA), and others rose to claim the space mission for their own. What was the Air Force’s vision of space during these years? Was it satellites and rockets, or something more? How does the proliferation of agencies responsible for “space” impact the Air Force space program? How would modern Joint doctrine view multiple agencies struggling for the same missions and authorities?
• Chapter Three recounts the Air Force space effort during the Apollo years in the late-sixties to early-seventies. With the ascendance of NASA to political primacy of the national space effort during Apollo, where did the Air Force find itself during this time? What space projects did the Air Force champion in the beginning of this era? What was the role of Robert McNamara’s Defense Department in the Air Force’s push for space? Did anything fundamentally change in the Air Force regarding space at the end of this era?
• Chapter Four describes how the Air Force began to look at space systems less as experimental systems and more towards their operational utility into the 1970s. Many of the space systems that perform vital Air Force missions today began their development and deployment in the 1970s. Why did this change take place? How did national and Air Force policy drive these changes? Which systems became operational and which ones died on the vine?
• Chapter Five focuses on Air Force space’s organizational changes to focus on operations through the 1980s. What was the Systems Command charged with doing? Why did the Air Force activate the Space Command? What was the role of the Space Shuttle in the Air Force’s organizational decision making? What new type of space system test threatened to turn space into a weaponized medium?
• The 1980s was a remarkable decade for the American space effort, which encompasses Chapter Six. Which operational command provided most of the equipment and personnel for the Air Force’s Space Command when it was activated in 1982? What were the major debates over space roles and missions among the Air Force’s major commands? Do we still have similar debates today? Why did the Air Force’s Space Command commit to an operational agenda in the early 1980s? What was the most basic impact of the Challenger disaster to the Air Force’s space missions? Why was US Space Command activated as a Combatant Command, and what new systems and programs convinced many that a space combatant command was necessary?
• Chapter Seven explores a pivotal test for the new Air Force operational approach to space. It is often said that the 1991 Persian Gulf War was “the first space war.” Why do people think this? What did Air Force space forces accomplish in the lead up to war through Operation Desert Shield? How did space operations support the warfighter during Operation Desert Storm? What were some of the lessons learned during combat operations for the Air Force regarding space? On 3 February 2017 Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein said the Air Force “vision is to first normalize space operations as a joint war fighting domain no different than any other war fighting domain.” How does Gen Goldfein’s call for space normalization in 2017 compare to the Air Force’s space normalization vision in the 1990s?
• Chapter Eight presents an Air Force vision for the military space mission for the 21st century developed from a number of post-Gulf War studies. Spires’ book ends in the mid-1990s. Twenty years later, what did the Air Force vision get right and what did the vision get wrong? Is the Air Force on track to fulfill that vision? Would you recommend any changes to the vision? Has the Air Force been a good steward of space? What changes would you have made to national or Air Force policy, if any, that you think may have improved Air Force space operations over the first half century? What do you think is in store for the next half century of Air Force space leadership?