WHEN FOXES GUARD THE HEN HOUSE
An unpublished, hand-typed manuscript by Apollo 14 Astronaut Edgar Mitchell that lay dormant in a bank vault for nearly forty years, now released by Pen-L Publishing, offers a startling parallel with today’s real-life scenarios in the emerging weaponization of space.
“… never before has the capacity existed for humans to terminate all living activity on the planet in one spasmodic hour of nuclear exchange.” – Apollo 14 Astronaut Dr. Edgar Mitchell
The U.S.’ ability to defend against an attack on its robust satellite-technology and the associated nuclear threats might be more complicated than we think.
When legendary rocket scientist, Wernher von Braun, German mastermind of the Apollo spacecraft, was working for NASA in Washington D.C. in 1972, he heard plans at the Pentagon of a technology he felt certain the U.S. knew little about and was ill-prepared to handle—space-based nuclear weapons.
When dying of cancer in 1974, he summoned his protégé and spokesperson, Carol Rosin, with the request that she contact his close friend Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell to craft an expose of the potential for nuclear annihilation in such a venture.
Von Braun’s cautions became reality in 1983 with President Ronald Reagan’s proposed “Star Wars” initiative for development of ground and space-based missile systems, ostensibly for defense. Rosin’s past work with von Braun afforded her access to the workings of high-level government agencies and provided Mitchell rich literary fodder for analysis.
“Thirty-four publishers refused to publish it or even seriously consider it,” Mitchell said. “Such was the power of the White House, which did not want it published. I was subject to harassment, tapped phones, and more…”
From the near-impossible “first strike” reaction time to the exorbitant “space junk” littering our terrestrial environment, Mitchell’s findings are as relevant today as the day it was written.
According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, in 2024 China and Russia are on the verge of deploying non kinetic space weapons. These include lasers that can be used to temporarily dazzle or permanently blind sensors on U.S. satellites and jamming devices used in its vast network of communications to or from satellites.
It would also evoke a material disruption to society, as satellites play a growing role in cellphones, GPS, supply chain, logistics, and healthcare.
With the Pentagon’s increasing dependence on space, satellites are becoming coveted targets for adversaries.
In 2006, Mitchell retrieved his manuscript from a bank vault and released it to long-time friend and Oklahoma author, Carol Mersch, for publication.
Included in the book is Mersch’s 2005 one-on-one interview with Mitchell and a revealing FBI teletype response following the notorious “alien crash” in Roswell, NM near Mitchell’s hometown.
Articulate, comprehensive, and well foot-noted, Mitchell’s insights are frighteningly relevant in the current military landscape.
