November 24, 2024 - 7 pm EST: The X-15 Rocket Plane: Flying the First Wings into Space: Speaker: Michelle Evans: will talk about her book on the X-15 rocket plane the enthralling yet little-known story of the hypersonic X-15, the winged rocket ship that opened the way into human-controlled spaceflight. - Click HERE for tickets (NOTE: To avoid paying the suggested Service Fee of 17%, click on the drop-down menu and select "Other" to enter your own amount which could also be zero).
December 22, 2024 - 7 pm EST: Speed: The Life of a Test Pilot and Birth of an American Icon: Speakers: Robert Gilliland and Keith Dunnavant will talk about the book Speed that chronicles the life of Bob Gilliland, the chief test pilot for the SR-71 Blackbird at Lockheed Skunkworks under Kelly Johnson. Robert is the son of Bob Gilliland and Keith worked with Bob to get his memoirs published prior to his passing on July 4, 1993. - Click HERE for tickets (NOTE: To avoid paying the suggested Service Fee of 17%, click on the drop-down menu and select "Other" to enter your own amount which could also be zero).
January 26, 2025 - 7 pm EST: Cold War Virginia: Speakers: Francis Gary Powers Jr and Chris Sturdevant will talk about their book on Cold War sites, personalities, and spies associated with the Commonwealth of Virginia. - Click HERE for tickets (NOTE: To avoid paying the suggested Service Fee of 17%, click on the drop-down menu and select "Other" to enter your own amount which could also be zero).
February 23, 2025 - 7 pm EST: STARGATE - The Best-kept Secret of the Cold War: Speaker: Dale Graff will talk about his time as Director of the remote viewing unit at Fort Meade, MD that applied remote viewing for intelligence operations. His 30-year intelligence career was with the Foreign Technology Division (FTD) of the Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) in Washington, D.C. - Click HERE for tickets (NOTE: To avoid paying the suggested Service Fee of 17%, click on the drop-down menu and select "Other" to enter your own amount which could also be zero). Photo Credit: Tobias Gawrisch / Credit: Getty Images.
March 23, 2025 - 7 pm EST: "The Black Cats: U-2 Operations over China from Taiwan: Speaker: Chris Pocock will talk about the Black Cats AKA the 5th Reconnaissance Squadron (5RS) and their missions over China from Taiwan. On Dec. 14, 1960, Detachment H was created in Taiwan. The "Blackcat" nickname associated with today's 5th Reconnaissance Squadron was started by Det. H. Det. H flyers would frequent an establishment called the "Blackcat" in a nearby town. The name "Blackcat" soon became synonymous with the members of the U-2 detachment. - Click HERE for tickets (NOTE: To avoid paying the suggested Service Fee of 17%, click on the drop-down menu and select "Other" to enter your own amount which could also be zero).
April 27, 2025 - 7 pm EST: US Defense during the Cold War: Speaker: John Bronson will talk about how the US during the Cold War defended against air, submarine, and missile attacks by the Soviet Union. These defenses detected and tracked manned bomber aircraft, hostile submarines, and missiles launched from the other side of the world. The US created deterrence to Soviet attack by means of long-range attacks in response. This session shows how these defenses grew from fledging stop-gap steps into a complex fabric of interconnected combinations of high-tech equipment over 40 years. - Click HERE for tickets (NOTE: To avoid paying the suggested Service Fee of 17%, click on the drop-down menu and select "Other" to enter your own amount which could also be zero).
Cold War Conversations Presentation Series
The Cold War Conversations Presentation Series is a monthly virtual program presented by eyewitnesses, experts, and or authors on Cold War events, activities, and personalities that shaped this 46 year period of time.
The presentations are currently 100% online in the museums Zoom Room. This has the great advantage of allowing both our presenters and audience to be sitting in their homes or offices anywhere in the world for both the presentations and question-and-answer sessions that take place virtually
There is a modest $20 charge for tickets to attend these presentations. The Cold War Conversations Lecture Series substantially helps maintain our usual free admission to The Cold War Museum on the weekends, so that visitors can bring their whole families and enter without worrying about their budgets.
If you would like the chance not only to learn more about historic Cold War events, activities, and personalities but also to converse with eyewitnesses--people who were professionally trained to evaluate the significance of what they observed--and other experts who have in depth knowledge of the context, please consider joining the conversation and engaging.
Click the link above to sign up and pay for the program you would like to attend: