Featuring biographical chapters on the leaders who served in space roles in the U.S. Air Force, Army, or Marine Corps, including officers who experienced the celestial skies firsthand as astronauts, Space Force Pioneers aims to enhance the reader’s understanding of character and leadership in military space from the experiences of these elite, ground-breaking leaders.
The opening chapter explains in detail how the United States Space Force evolved from the Air Force. It is followed by ten biographical chapters that examine the stellar careers of space pioneers and illuminate their varied leadership styles. The chapter authors, all experts on the subject matter, engagingly capture the essence of these impressive individuals by incorporating information derived from the personal papers of their subjects and—in some cases—oral histories and interviews, along with other historical sources. They make clear the lasting contributions each of these leaders made to military space while serving in or out of uniform.
Space Force Pioneers offers insight and analysis into how these unique leaders have operated in the performance of their duties, as well as chronicling changes in military space over the past four decades. The volume concludes with a broad and probing interpretation of contemporary space leadership, which offers a vehicle for comparing the accomplishments of these distinctive military space leaders.
Industry Reviews
"Space Force Pioneers is every Guardian’s must read. The paths taken by the space leaders David Arnold highlights sets the history and heritage foundation for a Space Force culture. Learn from these space patriots who faced and handled unique challenges in bringing us to where we are today. Know your history, relive the pivotal points, be a next generation Guardian leader."—Col. Jack Anthony, ASAF (Ret.)
"David Arnold's Space Force Pioneers is a valuable contribution to understanding how ground-breaking leaders shaped the space community that we have today. The chapters offer a wealth of thought-provoking analysis for students and policymakers alike. It should be read by space professionals to understand how elite, historical figures used their respective leadership styles with finesse, which ultimately led to the creation of the United States Space Force."—John J. Klein, author of Fight for the Final Frontier: Irregular Warfare in Space
"Ably written and thoroughly researched, this collection of studies sheds light not only on the biographies of some of America's key space leaders—and also what "the right stuff" looks like for pioneering leadership in a vital and emerging security domain. This is a must-read!"—Nicholas Sambaluk, author of The Other Space Race,
"This work provides the basis for important conversations about military leadership relative to the domain of space. The experiences of Space Force “pioneers”—including merit, and mistakes; determination, diligence, and devotion; selflessness, and selfishness; personalities intense, and easygoing; and goals often lofty but, at times, less so—provide benchmarks for discussions that suggest military space leadership bears more in common with traditional military leadership than some perhaps expected to be the case in the heavenly domain."—Forrest Marion, author of Standing Up Space Force
