The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), derisively nicknamed the Star Wars program, was a proposed missile defense system intended to protect the United States from attack by ballistic nuclear missiles. The program was announced in 1983, by President Ronald Reagan. Reagan called for a system that would render nuclear weapons obsolete, and to end the doctrine of mutual assured destruction (MAD), which he described as a "suicide pact". Elements of the program reemerged in 2019 under the Space Development Agency (SDA).
Simon "Si" Ramo was an American engineer, businessman, and author. He led development of microwave and missile technology and is sometimes known as the father of the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). He also developed General Electric's electron microscope. He played prominent roles in the formation of two Fortune 500 companies, Ramo-Wooldridge and Bunker Ramo Corporation.
Brilliant Pebbles was a ballistic missile defense (BMD) system proposed by Lowell Wood and Edward Teller of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in 1987, near the end of the Cold War. The system would consist of thousands of small satellites, each with missiles similar to conventional heat seeking missiles, placed in low Earth orbit constellations so that hundreds would be above the Soviet Union at all times. If the Soviets launched their ICBM fleet, the pebbles would detect their rocket motors using infrared seekers and collide with them. Because the pebble strikes the ICBM before the latter could release its warheads, each pebble could destroy several warheads with one shot.
The Aerospace Corporation is an American nonprofit corporation that operates a federally funded research and development center (FFRDC). The corporation provides technical guidance and advice on all aspects of space missions to military, civil, and commercial customers. As the FFRDC for national-security space, Aerospace works closely with organizations such as the United States Space Force (USSF) and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) to provide "objective technical analyses and assessments for space programs that serve the national interest". Although the USSF and NRO are primary customers, Aerospace performs work for civil agencies such as NASA and NOAA as well as international organizations and governments in the national interest. Aerospace, as part of its charter, also provides expertise to commercial entities, both established companies and startups, domestically and abroad.
Eberhardt Rechtin was an American systems engineer and respected authority in aerospace systems and systems architecture.
Maxwell White Hunter II was a prominent American aerospace engineer. He worked on the design of the Douglas B-42 and Douglas B-43 bombers, the Honest John, Nike-Ajax, and Nike-Zeus missiles, the Thor IRBM, and on parts of the Strategic Defense Initiative. In later years he worked on space-launch vehicles and was a proponent of Single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) designs. He was honored in 1995 by the National Space Society for lifelong contributions to the technology of spaceflight.
General Lester L. Lyles is a retired four-star general in the United States Air Force (USAF). He served as Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force, and Commander, Air Force Materiel Command, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. After retirement from the USAF in 2003, he became a company director for General Dynamics, DPL Inc., KBR, Inc., Precision Castparts Corp., MTC Technologies, Battelle Memorial Institute and USAA. Lyles is also a trustee of Analytic Services and a managing partner of Four Seasons Ventures, LLC.
Lieutenant General Lincoln D. Faurer was United States Air Force officer who served as director of the National Security Agency and chief of the Central Security Service from 1981 to 1985.
Samuel Cochran Phillips was a United States Air Force general who served as Director of NASA's Apollo program from 1964 to 1969, as commander of the Space and Missile Systems Organization (SAMSO) from 1969 to 1972, as the seventh Director of the National Security Agency from 1972 to 1973, and as commander of the Air Force Systems Command from 1973 to 1975.
Retired Maj. Gen. Roosevelt Mercer Jr., SES, is the director of the Interagency Planning Office (IPO) for the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) at the Federal Aviation Administration where he provides high-level leadership for interagency and international collaboration related to NextGen. He executes the collaborative processes needed to ensure efficient coordination among all federal partners whose decisions impact NextGen. The federal partner agencies include the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Department of Defense (DoD), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Department of Commerce (DOC), National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), National Science Foundation (NSF), and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), as well as the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) as an ex officio participant. Mr. Mercer is charged with providing executive direction to a dynamic multi-agency and international partnering organization focused on future NextGen technology, policy, and collaborative activities.
Alexander Henry Flax was the Chief Scientist of the U.S. Air Force (USAF) from 1959 to 1961, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Research and Development from 1963 to 1969, and the third Director of the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) from 1965 to 1969. He was the director at a time when the second generation of imaging systems became operational and began to play a major role in United States intelligence during the Cold War. He oversaw major growth in NRO funding and personnel, the development of signals intelligence collectors from space, and the development of electro-optical imaging for US reconnaissance satellites.
Paul Garrett Kaminski is a technologist and former U.S. government official, best known for his leading role in the development of stealth aircraft.
Nina Marion Armagno is a retired United States Space Force lieutenant general who served as the first director of staff of the United States Space Force from 2020 to 2023. She is the service's first female general officer and the only officer to have commanded both the 30th Space Wing and the 45th Space Wing. Before transferring to the Space Force, she was a major general in the United States Air Force, where she served for over 32 years.
Paul Joseph Selva is a retired United States Air Force four-star general who served as the tenth vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In this capacity, he was the nation's second-highest-ranking military officer, and the highest-ranking officer in the Air Force. He assumed his last assignment on July 31, 2015, and retired on August 1, 2019. Selva is a command pilot with more than 3,100 hours in the C-5, C-17A, C-141B, C-37, KC-10, KC-135A and T-37.
John Earl Hyten is a retired United States Air Force general who served as the 11th vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 2019 to 2021. A career space operations and acquisitions officer, he commanded the United States Strategic Command from 2016 to 2019 and the Air Force Space Command from 2014 to 2016.
Richard Charles Henry was a lieutenant general in the United States Air Force who served as commander of the Space Division, Air Force Systems Command, Los Angeles Air Force Station, Calif. He also served as vice commander of Space Command and as the Department of Defense manager for the National Space Transportation System.
Lieutenant General Abner Broadwater Martin was third Director of the United States Defense Mapping Agency from September 1977 to June 1979.
David Dean Thompson is a retired United States Space Force general who served as the first vice chief of space operations from 2020 to 2023. He served as the vice commander of the Air Force Space Command from 2018 to 2020.
John Ferdinand "JT" Thompson is a retired lieutenant general in the United States Air Force who last served as the commander of the Space and Missile Systems Center from May 2017 to July 2021. He entered the United States Air Force in 1984 as a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy.
DeAnna Marie Burt is a United States Space Force lieutenant general who has served as the deputy chief of space operations for operations, cyber, and nuclear since 2022. She is the first female major general and second female general officer in the Space Force.
