EVENTS

AFHF SYMPOSIUM and MUSEUMS CONFERENCE

21 May 2025, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center Executive Board Room

8 AM to 5 PM

REGISTRATION FEE

AFHF MEMBER: $140

NON-MEMBER: $195

Limited to 140 Participants

Includes parking, light lunch options, and Symposium attendance for the day.

Tentative agenda currently includes:

0810-0820     Welcome

0820-0855     Kickoff Address (Roger Launius, PhD, IB Holley Award recipient)

The Frontier Military Experience as a Model for the Military in Space

Learning from History to Shape the Future

0900-0955     Columbia Accident (MG John Barry, Executive Director/Space Shuttle Columbia Accident Investigation)

1000-1130     AFHF Literary Awardees Panel

All Article Winners and Book Prize recipients talk about their challenges and triumphs in documenting Air and Space history

1145-1215     LUNCH TALK: Back to the Books: The rebirth of A Few Great Captains (AFHF/AU Press Imprint)

(Phil Meilinger (Contributor), Abbie Hoffman (Editor), Dik Daso (Contributor)

1225-1400     Behind the Scenes: The Birth of Space Force with Those Who Were There

(General David D. Thompson, Maj. Gen. Clinton E. Crosier, Col Stu Pettis, Chair)

1410-1500     Origins of the Space Force Through Artifacts (David Arnold)

1510-1645     The Military-Academic Zone: Teaching Spacepower in PME and at USAFA

Chair, DFHAA-L Weaver, ACSC-P.J. Springer, DFH-T. Givler, Johns Hopkins-M. Pavelec, AU-J Terino

1650-1700     Conference Summary and Farewell

Includes parking, light lunch options, and Symposium attendance for the day.

Panelist Bios and Panel Abstracts

Roger D. Launius, IB Holley Award Recipient

From 1982 to 1990, Launius held several positions as a civilian historian with the United States Air Force. he is the former chief historian of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and most recently Associate Director for Collections and Curatorial Affairs at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum. He is the author, most recently, of NACA to NASA to Now: The Frontiers of Air and Space in the American Century (NASA SP-2022-4419, 2023); Apollo’s Legacy: The Space Race in Perspective (Smithsonian Books, 2019); Reaching for the Moon: A Short History of Space Race (Yale University Press, 2019); and The Smithsonian History of Space Exploration: From the Ancient World to the Extraterrestrial Future (Smithsonian Books, 2018). He is also a recipient of the NASA Exceptional Service Medal and the Exceptional Achievement Medal. He has been a guest commentator on space history for all the major television and news radio networks.

0810-0855 KICKOFF ABSTRACT

Throughout history, civilizations venturing into uncharted territories have required measures to ensure the security of their people and resources. In American history, the military has played a significant role in exploring, securing, and advancing the frontier. For example, the Lewis and Clark Expedition was a military mission designed to survey the landscape and prepare for colonization.

Similar military involvement will be necessary for the space frontier. The establishment of the United States Space Force marks a new chapter in military history, reflecting the pioneering spirit and challenges faced by early American frontier soldiers. The experiences of these frontier military personnel provide invaluable insights into the unique demands and strategic imperatives of space operations.

This presentation will examine the role the military has played in American history and look ahead to its future role in space during the twenty-first century. Thus far, space has predominantly been used to support Earth-based military operations, and this is likely to continue. However, a new role will emerge in this century aimed at protecting space assets and activities as humans engage in an expansive spaceflight future.

0900-0955 Columbia Accident (MG John Barry, Executive Director/Space Shuttle Columbia Accident Investigation)

John L. Barry, Maj Gen, USAF (Ret) is the Chair of the Air Force Historical Foundation.  John served as the President and CEO of the Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum (WOTR) from 2017-2025, located in Denver, Colorado. he served in the United States Air Force for over 30 years as a combat veteran with 270 hours of combat time, fighter pilot, Fighter Weapons School Graduate, winning team member at the “Top Gun” international Air-to-Air William Tell Competition, Military Assistant to the Secretary of Defense, and commander multiple times at the squadron, twice at the group command level and twice at the wing command level.  He is also a survivor of the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon while serving as the lead Strategic Planner for the USAF. He retired in 2004 as a Major General and finished his USAF career as Board Member and Executive Director for the Space Shuttle Columbia Accident Investigation.

1000-1130 AFHF Literary Awardees Panel

John Schell graduated with a BSEE and MSEE in April 1970 from Penn State University and a reserve commission in the USAF. Entering active duty at Wright-Patterson AFB, he worked as a radar research engineer at the Air Force Avionics Lab (now Sensors Directorate). There he became a project engineer on the spotlight mode synthetic aperture radar. That radar was the world’s first high resolution (SAR) imaging system with controlled errors and consistent image quality. Subsequently, in 1976, he was assigned to the SR–71/U–2 Project Office at WPAFB. There he led the development of ASARS-1 and ASARS-2 radar prototypes for the SR–71 and U–2R, also serving briefly as the Chief Avionics Engineer, responsible for all SR–71 and U–2 mission systems. After separating from the Air Force in 1980, he supported ASARS testing and fielding, development of several image exploitation systems, and development of the RQ-4 Global Hawk. Retiring from industry in 2016, he lives in Dayton, Ohio and serves as a volunteer at the National Museum of the USAF. His passion is the Cold War era, about which he has made multiple presentations and written papers on the U–2 and SR–71 including:  “Flight of the First Habu” , NMUSAF Friends Journal, Winter 2020, “The SA-2 and U-2, Secrets Revealed”, Air Power History, Summer 2021, “The SA-2 and U-2: The Rest of The Story, Journal of the AFHF, Summer 2023, “Flying the World’s Fastest Jet”, Presentation 2020, Building The World’s Fastest Jet. Presentation 2024.

David K. Stumpf, Ph.D. is a retired plant biochemist living with his wife, Susan, in Tucson Arizona. He has written three nuclear weapon histories, Regulus the Forgotten Weapon, a history of the Navy’s Regulus I and II cruise missiles; Titan II: A History of a Cold War Missile System and Minuteman: a technical history—The Missile that defined American Nuclear Warfare, published February 2021. Dr. Stumpf volunteered at the Titan Missile Museum, Sahuarita, Arizona, as an historian and as a tour guide for 15 years. He was instrumental in the effort to gain National Historic Landmark status for the museum. HIs latest book, The Last 30 Seconds, covers the evolution of the hit-to-kill technology used in the various missile-defence systems. 

This is a Special AFHF Literary Award for original primary source technical research across three articles.

Dr. Sean M. Maloney is a Professor of History at Royal Military College of Canada and served as the Historical Advisor to the Chief of the Land Staff during the war in Afghanistan. He previously served as the historian for 4 Canadian Mechanized Brigade, the Canadian Army’s primary Cold War NATO commitment after the re-unification of Germany and at the start of Canada’s long involvement in the Balkans. He completed his PhD in 1998. From 2003 Dr. Maloney focused nearly exclusively on the war against Al Qaeda and its allies. He traveled regularly to Afghanistan from 2003 to 2014 to observe and record coalition operations in that country and was the first Canadian military historian to go into combat since the Second World War. He has authored 19 books. After returning to Royal Military College, Dr. Maloney has re-focused back on the Cold War, releasing Deconstructing Dr. Strangelove: The Secret History of Nuclear War Films in 2020 and, in 2021, Emergency War Plan: The American Doomsday Machine, 1945-1960, a reconstruction and analysis of nuclear war plans in the 1950s.

Dr. John J. Klein, callsign “Patsy,” is a subject matter expert on space strategy and instructs space policy and strategy courses at the undergraduate, graduate, and doctorate levels at several universities in the Washington, DC area. He routinely writes on space strategy, deterrence, and the Law of Armed Conflict.  He is a retired Commander, United States Navy, receiving his commission through the Naval Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program at Georgia Tech. He served for 22 years as a Naval Flight Officer, primarily flying in the S-3B Viking carrier-based aircraft. Dr. Klein supported combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. His tours included the Executive Officer of Sea Control Squadron Twenty Four and the final Commanding Officer of Sea Control Weapons School. Patsy holds a bachelor’s in aerospace engineering from Georgia Tech, a master’s in Aeronautical Engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School, a master’s in National Security and Strategic Studies from the Naval War College, and a Ph.D. in Strategic Studies from the University of Reading, England. Patsy is a distinguished graduate of the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School. He has over 2,700 flight hours in 27 different types of aircraft and over 600 carrier arrested landings.

Aaron Bateman, PhD, is an assistant professor of history and international affairs at George Washington University. He is the author of Weapons in Space: Technology, Politics, and the Rise and Fall of the Strategic Defense Initiative (MIT Press, 2024). His other academic work has been published in the Journal of Strategic Studies, International History Review, Intelligence and National Security, and Diplomacy and Statecraft. His policy commentary has appeared in Foreign Affairs, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and War on the Rocks. He received his PhD from Johns Hopkins University. Prior to graduate school, he served as a U.S. Air Force intelligence officer.

1145-1215 LUNCH TALK: Back to the Books: The rebirth of A Few Great Captains

Col. Phillip S. Meilinger, USAF, Retired, PhD received a BS degree from the United States Air Force Academy, an MA degree from the University of Colorado, and obtained a PhD in military history from the University of Michigan. A command pilot, he has served as a C-130 aircraft commander and instructor pilot in both Europe and the Pacific. He was also assigned to the Doctrine Division of the Air Staff at the Pentagon. Meilinger was the director of military history and deputy department head at the Air Force Academy, a professor of strategy at the US Naval War College and was founder and third Dean of the School of Advanced Airpower Studies—now the School of Advanced Air and Space Studies—the Air Force’s only accredited graduate school for the education of future strategists. SAASS has produced some of the most innovative leaders in the USAF.

Abbie Hoffman, editor of AU Press

Lt Col Dik Daso, USAF (ret), PhD, is former adjunct faculty in the department of history at the University of South Carolina where he taught a variety of courses that focus on the history of technology and science. He retired from the USAF in 2001 and then served at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum as the curator of modern military aircraft until retiring from that post in 2012. He earned his B.S. from the USAF Academy in 1981 and his doctorate in history from the University of South Carolina in 1996. Daso flew T-38, RF-4C, and F-15 aircraft during his service. He was assigned to the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board during the visionary New World Vistas S&T study in 1995 and held the position of Chief, Air Force Doctrine, as a member of the Air Staff in the Pentagon. Lt. Col. Daso retired after 20 years of active service in 2001.

1225-1400 Behind the Scenes: The Birth of Space Force with Those Who Were There

Maj. Gen. Clinton E. Crosier is the Director, Space Force Planning, Office of the Chief of Space Operations, U.S. Space Force, the Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia. In this capacity, he is directly responsible for formulating the Department of Defense plan for the stand-up and operation of the U.S. Space Force. Included in his responsibilities are the macro-organizational design of the U.S. Space Force, stand-up of initial force elements and development of funding and manpower requirements, policies and processes that will govern the establishment of the first new military service in 72 years.

General David D. Thompson is the Vice Chief of Space Operations, United States Space Force. As Vice Chief he is responsible for assisting the Chief of Space Operations in organizing, training and equipping space forces in the United States and overseas, integrating space policy and guidance, and coordinating space-related activities for the U.S. Space Force and Department of the Air Force.

Colonel Stuart A. Pettis, USAF, (ret), Air Force Historical Foundation Vice Chair for Space, is the Director of STEM Education for the Air & Space Forces Association where he oversees the AFA’s CyberPatriot and StellarXplorers competitions for over 20,000 high school and middle school students around the United States each year. Colonel Pettis retired from the United States Air Force in September 2021 after a 29-year career.  He served in a variety of assignments at the Headquarters Space Force and Air Force, major command, numbered air force, and unit levels.  In 2019, he was a member of the Secretary of the Air Force’s Space Force Planning Team.  He also commanded Thule Air Base, as well as the 1st Air Support Operations Squadron where he also served as the Air Liaison Officer for the United States Army’s 1st Armored Division.  Between October 2007 and May 2008, he led the 1st Expeditionary Air Support Operations Squadron during the surge in Iraq.

1410-1500 Origins of the Space Force Through Artifacts

Dr. David C. Arnold is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Security Studies at National War College in Washington, DC, where he has been on the faculty since 2013. He received his PhD from Auburn University, his MA from Colorado State University, and his BA from Purdue University, all in history. He is a career space and missile professional who retired from the Air Force in 2015 as a colonel. Dr. Arnold has taught history at 7,258 feet, 750 miles north of the Arctic Circle, and in cyberspace, and written extensively on space. His most recent book is the edited volume Space Force Pioneers: Trailblazers of the Sixth Branch, out last November from Naval Institute Press. His most recent article is “A History of the U.S. Space Force in Six Objects at the National Museum of the United States Air Force” in the winter 2024 of the Journal of the Air Force Historical Foundation.

1510-1645 The Military-Academic Space: Teaching Spacepower in PME and at USAFA

The military presence in and use of space has been a fact for decades.  The education of military officers on the subject has developed in fits and starts over that same time frame.  Over the last decade, space education has steadily grown in importance.  This roundtable will present views and analysis of developments in space education in both PME and at the Air Force Academy in the recent past with an eye towards what it may mean in the near future as well.  Space as a part of the curriculum in military education has expanded steadily from a few lessons to entire blocks of instruction.  Over the last decade, coincidentally with the establishment of the Untied States Space Force, it has taken on a greater institutional presence as well, evolving form a single specialized seminar to a concentration and ultimately its own service sponsored PME institution.  This panel has members who have taught in and developed curriculum for all of these entities as well as those who were there as the Air Force planned to move forward from being an Air and Space Force to a Space and Air Force as the importance of military space was publicized in the 1990s after Operation Desert Storm.

Lt Col Theodore (Teddy) Givler is currently a PhD student at the University of Colorado Boulder studying Cold War Diplomatic & Intelligence History and Space History. He is a career space & missile operator, serving in various operational and leadership roles. After spending much of his career in the United States Air Force, he is a current United States Space Force officer. He most recently served as a Senior Instructor and Associate Department Head of the History Department at the United States Air Force Academy and as the course director for the History of Spacepower. He edited and contributed to Space Force Doctrine Publication 1, Personnel in 2021. He has also presented numerous conference papers about Spacepower History. Just before embarking on his academic career, Teddy served as an original member of Task Force-Tango, the pre-legislation multidisciplinary team tasked with designing the macro-organizational structure of what would become the United States Space Force, specializing in the force development components of the then-theoretical service.

Dr. S. Mike Pavelec earned his doctorate at The Ohio State University in 2004, in the history of science and technology with a military focus. His dissertation was the basis for his first book, The Jet Race and the Second World War. He taught at Hawaii Pacific University, the U.S. Naval War College, the School of Advanced Air and Space Studies (SAASS), Air Command and Staff College, and the Joint Advanced Warfighting School (JAWS). He was back at ACSC before transitioning to the Department of Spacepower, which is now the Schriever Space Scholars at Johns Hopkins University – SAIS. He is now the director of the Schriever Space Scholars. A prolific writer, Dr. Pavelec has seven books in print, including his latest study on World War One Aviation, Airpower Over Gallipoli, 1915-1916, (Naval Institute Press, 2020) and has written extensively on airpower, spacepower, and technology. He has two books under contract including his current research on a cultural comparison of air and space technology in its early years.

Dr. Paul J. Springer is a Professor of Comparative Military Studies in the Department of Airpower at the Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama. He holds a PhD in military history from Texas A&M University. He is the author or editor of more than a dozen books, including America’s Captives: Treatment of POWs from the Revolutionary War to the War on Terror; Military Robots and Drones: A Reference Handbook; Transforming Civil War Prisons: Lincoln, Lieber, and the Laws of War; Cyber Warfare: A Reference Handbook; and Outsourcing War to Machines: The Military Robotics Revolution. In addition, he has published hundreds of shorter pieces, on a variety of subjects including military history, terrorism, strategy, technology, and military robotics. Dr. Springer is a Senior Fellow of the Foreign Policy Research Institute, and the series editor for both the History of Military Aviation and Transforming War series, produced by the U.S. Naval Institute Press. Currently, he is completing a collective biography of the West Point Class of 1829, tentatively entitled Brothers in Peace and War: The West Point Class of 1829.

Dr Larry A. Weaver graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1976, completed pilot training at Craig AFB in Selma AL and Reese AFB in Lubbock TX and flew B-52s at Barksdale AFB, LA.  He was selected to return to the Air Force Academy to teach history and completed his master’s degree and PhD at Indiana University where he concentrated on the history of American foreign relations.   Larry served as an Assistant Professor of History at the Air Force Academy before being selected to attend Air Command and Staff College in Montgomery, AL.  Following graduation, he remained on faculty and served as the Dean of Academics before his Pentagon assignment. Following retirement from the Air Force in 1997, Larry wrote the official history of Operation Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom before starting his own consulting business focusing on strategy, leadership and organizational development. Dr Weaver began teaching for the US Naval War College in 2004 and has taught Joint Maritime Operations and Strategy and War.  In addition, he has taught at the Samford School, Duke University, and George Mason University.  His latest writing includes a coauthored chapter on the strategic air campaign against Japan in World War II that will be included in a new history of the Pacific War published by the Naval Institute Press.

Dr. John Terino is an Associate Professor of Military and Security Studies at the Air Command and Staff College.  He was the Chairman of the Department of Airpower when the Schriever Scholars Seminar Program was established.  At ACSC, he teaches courses on Military Theory, Airpower, Contemporary Warfare, Joint Planning, Joint Air Planning, and an elective on the Air Force in Fact, Fiction, and Film. Prior to that, he was a professor at the School of Advanced Air and Space Studies (SAASS).  Before coming to Air University, he taught for four years at the Air Force Academy in the Department of History. He retired from the Air Force in the grade of Lieutenant Colonel as a Logistics Readiness Officer after serving for almost 23 years. Recently, he authored a chapter, “The First Guardian: Bernard A. Schriever” in Space Force Pioneers: Trailblazers of the Sixth Branch. He received his BA, MA, and PhD in History and Sociology of Science from the University of Pennsylvania.

AFHF ANNUAL AWARDS BANQUET

22 May 2025, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center Space Hangar, Chantilly, VA

6 PM to 10 PM

REGISTRATION FEE

AFHF MEMBER: $250

NON-MEMBERS: $300

Includes: Parking, Seated Dinner, Social Hour, USAF Quintet, USSF Honor Guard, Special Guest Speaker, two beer/wine tickets, silent auction, and more

Dress: Formal/Mess Dress

For event sponsorship or to purchase tables of 10 contact, xd@afhistory.org

Awardees can be found at this link: https://afhistory.org/awards/

NOTE: Individuals attending both events will receive a $25 discount on the total registration fee.