Eyeing the Red Storm
Eisenhower and the First Attempt to Build a Spy Satellite
by Robert M. Dienesch
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Pub Date Apr 01 2016 | Archive Date Apr 01 2016
Description
Eyeing the Red Storm examines the birth of space-based reconnaissance not from the perspective of CORONA (the first photo reconnaissance satellite to fly) but rather from that of the WS-117L. Robert M. Dienesch's revised assessment places WS-117L within the larger context of Dwight D. Eisenhower's presidency, focusing on the dynamic between military and civilian leadership. Dienesch demonstrates how WS-117L promised Eisenhower not merely military intelligence but also the capacity to manage national security against the Soviet threat. As a fiscal conservative, Eisenhower believed a strong economy was the key to surviving the Cold War and saw satellite reconnaissance as a means to understand the Soviet military challenge more clearly and thus keep American defense spending under control.
Although WS-117L never flew, it provided the foundation for all subsequent satellites, breaking theoretical barriers and helping to overcome major technical hurdles, which ensured the success of America's first working reconnaissance satellites and their photographic missions during the Cold War.
Advance Praise
“Dienesch combines an explication of high-level policy formulation with technical details about reconnaissance satellite development. He penetrates the secrecy that surrounded America’s first military satellite program, WS-117L, to assess both its contributions and disappointments.”—Rick W. Sturdevant, deputy director of history, Air Force Space Command
Available Editions
EDITION | Hardcover |
ISBN | 9780803255722 |
PRICE | $34.95 (USD) |
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Featured Reviews
Military technical history, placing the program to develop the WS-117L reconnaissance satellite in context of the anxiety about Russian nuclear possession, the lack of solid intelligence about enemy capabilities, desire for first strike preemptive triggers and a need to have eyes on Russia without being a U-2 in enemy airspace (space space was safer). Dienesch also discusses Eisenhower's budgetary constraints at length, with the satellites being both cost effective and difficult to manage as secret drains of funds with no Cold War publicity appeal. The WS-117L was not ready when Sputnik sent US efforts into overdrive, but the foundation laid by the research allowed the US, once challenged, to overtake Russian satellite technology in two years, with myriad commercial as well as intelligence applications.
Excellent history of the very first US reconnaissance satellite program. The program was never successfully fielded but the book covers how the program originated and the historical context. I'm not aware of another book covering in detail this particular program, so this is a unique book.
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