Readings

These readings are not required to participate at SWOTS, so please do not feel the need to purchase any of the books on this list. They are recommended, so we strongly suggest looking over at least those readings that are available for free (in bold). We provide links to the books for purchase merely as a convenience.

History of Space

Walter McDougall, ...The Heavens and the Earth: A Political History of the Space Age, 1997.

William Burrows, This New Ocean: The Story of the First Space Age, 1998.

Christian Davenport, The Space Barons: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the Quest to Colonize the Cosmos, 2018.

Spacepower

John Klein, Space Warfare: Strategy, Principles and Policy, 2024.

Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Avis Lang, Accessory to War: The Unspoken Alliance Between Astrophysics and the Military, 2018.

Joan Johnson-Freese, Space Warfare in the 21st Century: Arming the Heavens, 2016.

Brent Ziarnick, Developing National Power in Space: A Theoretical Model, 2015.

Everett Dolman, Astropolitik: Classical Geopolitics in the Space Age, 2002.

Threats in Space

Center for Strategic and International Studies, Space Threat Assessment 2025, 2025.

Secure World Foundation, Global Counterspace Capabilities: An Open Source Assessment, 2025.

International Space Policy/Law

United Nations, International Space Law: United Nations Instruments, 2018.

James Moltz, Crowded Orbits: Conflict and Cooperation in Space, 2014.

National Space Policy Documents
(Not an all-inclusive list)

National Space Policy, 2020.

National Space Policy Directives (SPD) 1-4:

• SPD-1 Reinvigorating America’s Human Space Exploration Program (2017)

• SPD-2 Streamlining Regulations on Commercial Use of Space (2018)

• SPD-3 National Space Traffic Management Policy (2018)

• SPD-4 Establishment of the United States Space Force (2019)

Defense Space Strategy, June 2020.

Joint and Service Publications
(These describe space operations in the context of joint operations and individual service components; all are unclassified, but some links may require CAC access)

Joint Publication 3-14, Joint Space Operations, 23 August 2023.

Army Field Manual 3-14, Army Space Operations, October 2019 and Space Operations (23 August 2022).

Air Force Doctrine 3-14, Space Support, 1 April 2025.

Chief of Naval Operations Instruction 5400.43C, “Navy Space Policy Implementation”, 1 May 2025.

Marine Corps Order 5400.53A, Marine Corps Space Policy, 3 May 2022.

Spacepower Capstone: Doctrine for Space Forces, 10 August 2020.
Other Space Force doctrine is located here: Digital Library