Bird of Prey, my fourth Nolan Kilkenny adventure, explored the commercial satellite industry, the placement of space-based weapons in orbit, and the Chinese manned space program. At the time, it was a pretty forward look at what I saw happening above us as more countries pushed their way into space. Some of what I wrote was considered prescient enough that Bird of Prey was mentioned in a National Security Briefing on the Chinese Space Program and space-based weaponry.

On September 25th, an incredible coincidence of three events happened that could have been drawn from the pages of Bird of Prey. First, the United States military launched a rocket to test a satellite-based portion of the SDI missile defense shield. Then, Sea Launch placed a commercial satellite in orbit from its ocean-based launch platform in the Pacific. Lastly, China launched Shenzhou-7 with a crew of three astronauts into orbit. The astronauts performed China’s first space walk and successfully returned to Earth, faring much better than the Shenzhou-7 mission featured in Bird of Prey.

Labels: China, satellite, weapons