Spying from Space Constructing Americas Satellite Command and Control Systems by David Christopher Arnold [Texas A&M UP,2008]

Centennial of Flight Series

by David Christopher Arnold

Spying from Space Constructing Americas Satellite Command and Control Systems by David Christopher Arnold. Published by Texas A&M UP,2008, Paperback

Genres: Space, Nonfiction

Unknown Binding

First published December 7, 2004

Reviews

[Matthew N · Rating 3 out of 5]

David Christopher delivers an interesting history of the origins of satellite command and control, showing the evolution of the systems as a product of bureaucratic and political tug-of-war between jockeying agencies. Can sometimes feel dull powering through government jargon, but the summaries at the end of each chapter do well to keep the reader on track and capture the lessons of every stage of development.

[Roger Burk · Rating 3 out of 5]

A middling account of an interesting and little-known story. Interesting to me, anyway--I served as an Air Force spacecraft operations director in the Air Force Satellite Control Facility in 1979-82. This book took me back to a previous life, and I learned some new things--like that the AFSCF was originally developed specifically for the Corona photoreconnaissance spacecraft in the early 1960s, when that program was totally covert. But the account here seems a bit thin. The growth of the AFSCF as a common command and control network for many satellites being attributed only to bureaucratic empire-building, with little attention to technical and operational reasons why a common network might suit some space systems and not others.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wrote it!