The U.S. and more than 100 other nations have signed off on the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, pledging not to base weapons of mass destruction in space or on celestial bodies. That was a course set in our country by a succession of presidents — Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson — who believed in preserving the heavens as an arms-free frontier for the benefit of all humanity.
 
In a discussion of his book U.S. Presidents and the Militarization of Space, 1946-1967, historian Sean Kalic of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth examines that tenet of the 1950s and ’60s and how it continues to influence discussions and debates today. While space became militarized — used for photoreconnaissance, ballistic missile early warning, intelligence gathering, communication, navigation, and weather data collection — it remains unweaponized.