Space Begins on Earth: Communications Satellites and Cold War History

press release: Christine E. Evans, associate professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Drawing on US and Soviet diplomatic and technical archives, interviews, and marketing and training materials, Evans will explore what the history of communications satellite infrastructure can tell us about the Cold War and of the US-Soviet “space race.” This apparently typical story of Cold War competition and division conceals a reality of interconnection, mutual influence, and shared anxieties that helped shaping the future of both satellite communications and international cooperation in space from the early 1970s onward.