Gen. Robert Kehler, Air Force Space Command leader, last week inducted the command’s 2009 Space and Missile Pioneers during a ceremony at Peterson AFB, Colo. This year’s five inductees are Benjamin Blasingame, Roger Easton, retired Col. Vernon Hastings, Robert Naka, and retired Col. Bradford Parkinson. Blasingame and Hastings were pioneers in the development of the Air Force’s early ICBMs. Easton was co-author of the 1955 Project Vanguard scientific satellite proposal and supervised its construction. Naka was a key player in the development of missile warning and space surveillance radars as well as reconnaissance systems. And Parkinson was a leading figure in the early days of space-based positioning, navigation, and timing systems. (Peterson release)
Gene Smith, Former POW and AFA Chair, Dies at 91
Jan. 19, 2026
Lt. Col. Richard “Gene” Smith, who overcame five and a half years as a prisoner of war in the notorious Hanoi Hilton from 1967 until 1973, died Jan. 16. He was one day short of his 91st birthday.
