Joe Page

About Joseph T. Page II:

Joseph T. Page II ("Joe") was born inside the National Capital Region (Washington, D.C.), but grew up at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico. The space and history “bug” bit him early in life while growing up at the “Birthplace of America’s Missile and Space Activity.” His seventh grade science project was a non-working cardboard model of a Sidewinder missile, for which he earned a "C+" for not following directions properly (the model was subsequently launched into the nearby desert).

After graduating with a Bachelor's degree from New Mexico State University, Joe joined the U.S. Air Force and fulfilled his existential dream of becoming a Missile Combat Crew Commander on the LGM-30G Minuteman III system, after watching the movie WarGames one too many times.

As a Missileer, Joe spent over 300 alert shifts at various control centers under North Dakota, participated in 15 MGS R&Rs (no, that's not the *fun* R&R), and had a brief three minutes of terror when all ten of his missiles dropped into RAMO.

On the space side of things, Joe has performed [REDACTED] on a number of [REDACTED] in orbit, all while holding an iced mocha coffee and munching on a lemon bar. As the primary author of the Air Force's "Protect and Defend" space warfare playbooks, Joe is grateful that the limited reading audience completely forgot about their existence. (War in Space == bad)

Joe's in-person missile/rocket viewing has seen a developmental THAAD missile actually *hit* its target, watched the self-destruction of a LGM-118A Peacekeeper over a bonfire at Pismo Beach, and was blown away (literally) by a Titan IV rocket exhaust wash in 2001.

Joe's books intertwine factual history with (declassified) anecdotal stories to bring alive memories of people and places inside the reader's mind. He is the recipient of the New Mexico Museum of Space History's "2012 Community Service Award," as well as the author of numerous titles on space and missile history.