While living in Florida in the mid-1950s Jim Reichman became interested in spaceflight. This interest was certainly inspired by rocket launches at nearby Cape Canaveral but also included the space exploits of the Soviet Union half a world away.
Commissioned an Air Force officer and assigned to the Space Defense Center, Colorado Springs, Colorado in April 1967 Jim trained and served in positions requiring skills in orbital analysis, space surveillance, space object identification (using radar), and on-orbit satellite control.
He spent 20 years in the USAF on operational crews in Colorado Springs, Alaska, and Australia and staff positions at the Space Defense Center, Headquarters Air Force Space Command, and at the satellite development facilities in Los Angeles run by Space Division. Key staff positions he held included Chief of Satellite Classification and Mission Identification Branch, Chief of the Space Requirements and Test Branch, and Deputy Director of Space Division’s Intelligence Directorate.
After retiring from the USAF in 1987, Jim went to work as a Senior Systems Analyst for the Science Applications and International Corporation (SAIC). This second spaceflight career with SAIC included contractor positions supporting Air Force Space Command by analyzing and advising the Air Force on space requirements related to the Consolidated Space Operations Center, the Space Defense Operations Center, and the Automated Remote Tracking System.
Jim started writing and publishing articles about Soviet spaceflight collecting interests in 1975 and has published articles in US and worldwide journals including The Astrophile (journal of the Space Unit), Linn’s Stamp News, Rossica Journal (journal of the Rossica Society), Orbit (journal of the Astro Space Stamp Society), Topical Time (journal of the American Topical Association), Nieuwsbrief (Journal of the Ruimtevaart Filatelie Club in the Netherlands), and Ad Astra (journal of the Italian Astrophilately Society).
After spending 35 years working spaceflight-related positions, Jim fully retired in 2002. He lives with his wife in Mesa, Arizona and enjoys working on genealogy and cosmic-philately hobbies.