Daniel Orrin Graham[1][2] (April 13, 1925 – December 31, 1995) was a United States Army officer who ultimately rose to the rank of lieutenant general.

In later years, Graham devoted a lot of time to the research and development of Single-Stage To Orbit (SSTO) spacecraft in conjunction with NASA.

McDonnell Douglas was awarded a contract to build an SSTO test vehicle on August 16, 1991, and named it the DC-X for Delta Clipper Experimental.

General Graham envisioned the DC-X as the perfect inexpensive launch and delivery vehicle for his proposed Brilliant Pebbles space-based ballistic missile defense shield.

Demonstrating an unplanned event on June 27, 1994, the DC-X became the first unmanned vehicle to save itself when an in-flight abort occurred after a gaseous hydrogen explosion.

The next day, June 8, 1996, to demonstrate the quick-turnaround capability of the rocket, the Clipper Graham soared into the skies over the old White Sands Missile Range to a height of 3,120 meters (10,240 feet) and stayed in the air for over two minutes before landing.

[6] Robert A. Heinlein dedicated his 1985 novel The Cat Who Walks Through Walls to Graham and eight of the other members of the Citizens' Advisory Council on National Space Policy.

[9] In 1981, Graham founded High Frontier, Inc., a private organization that promotes a kinetic-energy weapons approach to space-based defense with help from members of President Ronald Reagan's "Kitchen Cabinet".

[10] Graham served as the Project Director for the think tank and released its strategic plan in a book entitled "We Must Defend America and Put an End to MADness" in 1983.

[15] General Graham was also an unsuccessful Republican candidate for the Arlington County, Virginia, Board of Supervisors after his retirement from the military [16] "As you know, Dan, you and I were talking about missile defense before you set up High Frontier in September of '81...You and a small group of dedicated, determined people helped us move the SDI concept over all the roadblocks put up by people of less vision and belief in American capacity.