Only two years after Sputnik, weapons were created for attacking spacecraft. These were based on land. But now there is talk of weapons in space-instant-kill beams like lasers. President Reagan has offered a vision of new inventions that could stop nuclear missile attacks. But will they work? Can lasers make nuclear weapons obsolete? Or would they merely be used to wage Stars Wars?

Originally published in 1984, this is mainly the story of the military use of space. It shows how the new technology could trigger nuclear world war. And it looks for a way out...