War in Heaven: The Arms Race in Outer Space

by Helen Caldicott, Craig Eisendrath

When most of us think about the potential of outer space for future generations, we think of world communications, satellite navigation, and scientific exploration. U.S. Space Command, however, thinks about weapons. Believing that conflict in space and wars fought from space are inevitable, the president has called on the agency to weaponize outer space and thus provoke an arms race that could cost the United States trillions of dollars and could lead to the demise of the human race. In War in Heaven , a Nobel Prize–nominated peace activist and a former U.S. foreign service officer (who helped write the Outer Space Treaty of 1967) look at the history of military uses of space and the current plans for "militarizing the heavens," including kinetic, laser, nuclear bombardment, and anti-satellite weapons. Contrary to the claims of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld that the United States faces a "space Pearl Harbor," Caldicott and Eisendrath show that the United States itself is today the principal obstruction to passage of an international treaty banning weapons from outer space. At a time when plans to build and deploy space weapons are on the administration's agenda but only just becoming known to the general public, this book will help launch a national discussion of a critical issue.

Genres: Military Fiction

166 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2007

Reviews

[Matthew · Rating 2 out of 5]

‘With the shift to democratic control of congress on November 7th, 2006 it is likely however that this blackout of information will end.’ So the author thinks the democrats are the party of peace and transparency?? That half of republicans aren’t actually rino democrats?? Trump wasn’t perfect but was the first president in decades to not start wars. Now we’re back to the status quo with corrupt (didn’t want his kids growing up in a racial jungle) career politician Biden. Also she seems to want the US to cede their autonomy to international bodies like the UN.

[Chris · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a soapbox for the author, something to stand on and shout loud. It missed a number of points that could be highlighted to illustrated a balanced environment. It presented some technical details without context which could be misinterpreted by a uninformed reader. All in all the book was more about fearmongering than projecting useful ideas and concepts.