title: Starship Troopers

text: Despite the controversy, "Starship Troopers" had wide influence both within and outside science fiction. Ken MacLeod stated that "the political strand in [science fiction] can be described as a dialogue with Heinlein". Science fiction critic Darko Suvin wrote that "Starship Troopers" is the "ancestral text of US science fiction militarism" and that it shaped the debate about the role of the military in society for many years. The novel has been credited with popularizing the idea of powered armor, which has since become a recurring feature in science fiction books and films, as well as an object of scientific research. Heinlein's depiction of a futuristic military was also influential. Later science fiction books, such as Joe Haldeman's 1974 anti-war novel "The Forever War", have been described as reactions to "Starship Troopers". The story has been adapted several times, including in a 1997 film version directed by Paul Verhoeven with screenplay by Edward Neumeier that sought to satirize what the director saw as the fascist aspects of the novel.


title: Starship Troopers

text: Robert Heinlein was among the best-selling science fiction authors of the 1940s and 1950s, along with Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke; they were known as the "big three" that dominated US science fiction. In contrast to the others, Heinlein firmly endorsed the anti-communist sentiment of the Cold War era in his writing. Heinlein served in the US Navy for five years after graduating from the United States Naval Academy in 1929. His experience in the military profoundly influenced his fiction. At some point between 1958 and 1959, Heinlein put aside the novel that would become "Stranger in a Strange Land" and wrote "Starship Troopers". His motivation arose partially from his anger at US President Dwight Eisenhower's decision to suspend US nuclear tests, and the Soviet tests that occurred soon afterward. Writing in his 1980 volume "Expanded Universe", Heinlein would say that the publication of a newspaper advertisement placed by the National Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy on April 5, 1958, calling for a unilateral suspension of nuclear weapons testing by the United States sparked his desire to write "Starship Troopers". Heinlein and his wife Virginia created the "Patrick Henry League" in an attempt to create support for the US nuclear testing program. Heinlein stated that he used the novel to clarify his military and political views.


title: Starship Troopers

text: Like many of Heinlein's books, "Starship Troopers" was completed in a few weeks. It was originally written as a juvenile novel for New York publishing house Scribner; Heinlein had previously had success with this format, having written several such novels published by Scribner. The manuscript was rejected, prompting Heinlein to end his association with the publisher completely, and resume writing books with adult themes. Scholars have suggested that Scribner's rejection was based on ideological objections to the content of the novel, particularly its treatment of military conflict.


title: Starship Troopers

text: "The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction" first published "Starship Troopers" in October and November 1959 as a two-part serial titled "Starship Soldier". A senior editor at Putnam's, Peter Israel, purchased the manuscript and approved revisions that made it more marketable to adults. Asked whether it was aimed at children or adults, he said at a sales conference "Let's let the readers decide who likes it." The novel was eventually published by G. P. Putnam's Sons.


title: Starship Troopers

text: Set approximately 700 years from the present day, the human society in "Starship Troopers" is ruled by the Terran Federation, a world government managed by military veterans. The society is depicted as affluent, and futuristic technology shown as coexisting with educational methods from the 20th century. The rights of a full citizen, to vote and hold public office, are not universally guaranteed, but must be earned through Federal Service. Those who do not perform this service, which usually takes the form of military service, retain the rights of free speech and assembly, but cannot vote or hold public office. People of either sex above the age of 18 are permitted to enlist. Those who leave before completing their service do not receive the right to vote. Important government jobs are reserved for federal service veterans. This structure arose "ad hoc" after the collapse of the "20th century Western democracies", driven in part by an inability to control crime and juvenile delinquency, particularly in North America, and a war between an alliance of the United States, the United Kingdom and Russia against the "Chinese Hegemony".


title: Starship Troopers

text: Two extraterrestrial civilizations are also depicted. The "Pseudo-Arachnids" or "Bugs" are shown as communal beings originating from the planet of Klendathu. They have multiple castes; workers, warriors, brains, and queens, similar to ants and termites. The warriors are the only ones who fight, and are unable to surrender in battle. It is also implied that the Bugs are technologically advanced, possessing technologies like spaceships. The "Skinnies" are depicted as less communal than the Arachnids but more so than human beings. The events of the novel take place during an interstellar war between the Terran Federation and the Arachnids. At the beginning of the story, Earth is not at war, but war has been declared by the time Rico has completed his training. The Skinnies are initially allies of the Pseudo-Arachnids, but switch to being allies of the humans midway through the novel. Faster-than-light travel exists in this future: spacecraft operate under the "Cherenkov drive", and can travel "Sol to Capella, forty-six lightyears, in under six weeks".


title: Starship Troopers

text: "Starship Troopers" is narrated by the main protagonist Juan "Johnny" Rico, a member of the "Mobile Infantry". It is one of the few Heinlein novels which intersperses his typical linear narrative structure with a series of flashbacks. These flashbacks are frequently to Rico's History and Moral Philosophy course in school, in which the teacher discusses the history of the structure of their society. Rico is depicted as a man of Filipino ancestry, although there has been disagreement on this matter among fans. He is from a wealthy family, whose members had never served in the army. Rico's ancestry is depicted to be a thing of no consequence; the society he lives in appears to have abandoned racial and gender-based prejudice.


title: Starship Troopers

text: The novel opens with Rico aboard the corvette transport "Rodger Young" (named after Medal of Honor recipient Rodger Wilton Young), serving with the platoon known as "Rasczak's Roughnecks". The platoon carries out a raid against a planetary colony held by Skinnies. The raid is relatively brief: the platoon lands on the planet, destroys its targets, and retreats, suffering two casualties in the process. One of them, Dizzy Flores, is rescued by Rico but dies while returning to orbit. The narrative then flashes back to Rico's graduation from high school. Rico and his best friend Carl are considering joining the Federal Service after graduation; Rico is hesitant, partly due to his father's attitude towards the military. Rico makes his decision after discovering that his classmate Carmen Ibañez also intends to enlist.


title: Starship Troopers

text: Rico's choice is taken poorly by his parents, and he leaves with a sense of estrangement. He is assigned to the Mobile Infantry, and moves to Camp Arthur Currie (named for Arthur Currie who rose through the ranks to general in World War I) on the Canadian prairie for his training under Sergeant Charles Zim. The training is extremely demanding. Rico receives combat training of all types, including simulated fights in armored suits. A fellow recruit is court-martialed, flogged, and dismissed for striking a drill instructor who was also his company commander. Jean V. Dubois, who taught Rico's History and Moral Philosophy class in school, sends Rico a letter, revealing that he is a Mobile Infantry veteran himself. The letter helps Rico stay motivated enough not to resign. Rico himself is given five lashes for firing a rocket during a drill with armored suits and simulated nuclear weapons without ensuring that no friendlies were within the blast zone, which in combat would have resulted in the death of a fellow soldier. Another recruit, who murdered a baby girl after deserting the army, is hanged by his battalion after his arrest by civilian police. Eventually, after further training at another camp near Vancouver, Rico graduates with 187 others, of the 2,009 who had begun training in that regiment.


title: Starship Troopers

text: The "Bug War" has changed from minor incidents to a full-scale war during Rico's training. An Arachnid attack that annihilates the city of Buenos Aires alerts civilians to the situation; Rico's mother is killed in the attack. Rico participates in the Battle of Klendathu, an attack on the Arachnid's home world, which turns into a disastrous defeat for the Terran Federation. Rico's ship, the "Valley Forge", is destroyed, and his unit is decimated; he is reassigned to the Roughnecks on board the "Rodger Young," led by Lieutenant Rasczak and Sergeant Jelal. The unit carries out several raids, and Rico is promoted to corporal by Jelal, after Rasczak dies in combat.


title: Starship Troopers

text: One of his comrades in the Roughnecks suggests that Rico go to officer training school and try to become an officer. Rico ends up going to see Jelal, and finds that Jelal already had the paperwork ready. Rico enters Officer Candidate School for a second course of training, including further courses in "History and Moral Philosophy". En route from the Roughnecks to the school, Rico encounters his father, who has also enlisted and is now a corporal, and the two reconcile. He is also visited in school by Carmen, now an ensign and ship's pilot officer in the Navy, and the two discuss their friend Carl, who had been killed earlier in the war.


title: Starship Troopers

text: Rico is commissioned a temporary third lieutenant for his final test: a posting to a combat unit. Under the tutelage of his company commander, Captain Blackstone, and with the aid of his platoon sergeant, his boot camp drill instructor Fleet Sergeant Zim, who was reassigned from Mobile Infantry boot camp, Rico commands a platoon during "Operation Royalty", a raid to capture members of the Arachnid brain caste and queens. Rico then returns to the officer school to graduate.


title: Starship Troopers

text: The novel ends with him holding the rank of Second Lieutenant, in command of his old platoon in the "Rodger Young", with his father as his platoon sergeant. The platoon has been renamed "Rico's Roughnecks", and is about to participate in an attack on Klendathu.


title: Starship Troopers

text: Commentators have written that "Starship Troopers" is not driven by its plot, though it contains scenes of military combat. Instead, much of the novel is given over to a discussion of ideas. In particular, the discussion of political views is a recurring feature of what scholar Jeffrey Cass described as an "ideologically intense" book. A 1997 review in "Salon" categorized it as a "philosophical novel". Critics have debated to what extent the novel promotes Heinlein's own political views. Some contend that the novel maintains a sense of irony that allows readers to draw their own conclusions; others argue that Heinlein is sermonizing throughout the book, and that its purpose is to expound Heinlein's militaristic philosophy.


title: Starship Troopers

text: "Starship Troopers" has been identified as being a part of a tradition in US science fiction that assumes that violent conflict and the militarization of society are inevitable and necessary. Although the Mobile Infantry, the unit to which Rico is assigned, is seen as a lowly post by the characters in the story, the novel itself suggests that it is the heart of the army and the most honorable unit in it. In a commentary written in 1980, Heinlein agreed that "Starship Troopers" "glorifies the military ... Specifically the P.B.I., the Poor Bloody Infantry, the mudfoot who places his frail body between his loved home and the war's desolation—but is rarely appreciated... he has the toughest job of all and should be honored." The story is based on the social Darwinist idea of society as a struggle for survival based on military strength. It suggests that some conflicts must be resolved by force: one of the lessons Rico is repeatedly taught is that violence can be an effective method of settling conflict. These suggestions derive in part from Heinlein's view that in the 1950s the US government was being too conciliatory in its dealings with communist China and the Soviet Union.


title: Starship Troopers

text: Heinlein draws an analogy between the human society in the novel, which is well-to-do but needs to be vigilant against the imperialist threat of the Arachnids, and US society of the 1950s. Reviewers have suggested that the Arachnids are Heinlein's analogue for communists. Traits used to support this include the communal nature of the Arachnids, which makes them capable of a much higher degree of coordination than the humans. Bug society is once explicitly described as communist, and is moreover depicted as communist by nature; this has been read as implying that those with a different political ideology are analogous to alien beings. The related motifs of alien invasion, patriotism, and personal sacrifice during war, are present, as are other aspects of US popular culture of the 1950s. Commentators have argued that Heinlein's portrayal of aliens, as well as being a reference to people in communist countries, invokes the trope of a return to the frontier. The concept of the frontier includes a social-Darwinist argument of constantly fighting for survival, even at the expense of indigenous people or, in the case of "Starship Troopers", of aliens. Heinlein suggests that without territorial expansion involving violent conquest of other races, humans would be destroyed. Scholar Jamie King has stated that Heinlein does not address the question of what the military government and Federal Service would do in peacetime, and argues that Heinlein has set up a society designed to be continuously at war, and to keep expanding its territory.


title: Starship Troopers

text: "Starship Troopers" has been referred to as a "bildungsroman" or "coming-of-age" story for Rico, as he matures through his tenure in the infantry. His training, both at boot camp and at officer candidate school, involves learning the value of militarism, thus inviting the reader to learn it as well. This is especially true of the parts of his training that involve indoctrination, such as the claim by one of his instructors that rule by military veterans is the ideal form of government, because only they understand how to put collective well-being above the individual. The story traces Rico's transformation from a boy into a soldier, while exploring issues of identity and motivation, and traces his overall moral and social development, in a manner identified by commentators as similar to many stories about German soldiers in World War I. Rico's transformation has been likened to the common narrative within stories with military themes by scholar H. Bruce Franklin. This typical narrative is that of a sloppy and unfit civilian being knocked into shape by tough officers, whose training is "calculated sadism" but is depicted as fundamentally being on the right side. The letter Rico receives from Dubois, partly responsible for Rico "crossing the hump" with his training, is shown as a turning point in his development. The classroom scenes embedded in the story serve to explain Rico's adventures, and highlight his reactions to events around. A notable example is the execution Rico is forced to witness after a deserter from his unit murders a young girl; Rico is uncertain of his own reaction until he remembers a lecture by Dubois in which the latter argues that "moral sense" derives entirely from the will to survive. The concept of the American frontier is also related to the coming-of-age theme. Young protagonists across Heinlein's novels attain manhood by confronting a hostile "wilderness" in space; coming-of-age in a military, alien context is a common theme in Heinlein's earlier works as well. Rico's coming-of-age has also been described as being related to his relationship with his father; the journey "outward" through the novel also contains a search for Rico's childhood and a reunion with his estranged parent.


title: Starship Troopers

text: "Starship Troopers" also critiques US society of the 1950s, suggesting that it led young people to be spoiled and undisciplined. These beliefs are expressed through the classroom lectures of Dubois, Rico's teacher for History and Moral Philosophy. Dubois praises flogging and other types of corporal punishment as a means of addressing juvenile crimes. It has been suggested that Heinlein endorsed this view, although the fact that Dubois also compares raising children to training a puppy has been used to argue that Heinlein was making use of irony. The story is strongly in favor of corporal punishment and capital punishment, as a means of correcting juvenile delinquents, part of a trend in science fiction which examines technology and outer space in an innovative manner, but is reactionary with respect to human relationships. As with other books by Heinlein, traditional schools are denigrated, while learning "on the spot" is extolled: Rico is able to master the things required of him in military training without undue difficulty.


title: Starship Troopers

text: Dubois also ridicules the idea of inalienable rights, such as "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness", arguing that people only have the rights that they are willing to fight and die for to protect. The novel appeals to scientific authority to justify this position; Dubois repeatedly states that his argument is mathematically demonstrable, statements which have led scholars to label the novel "hard science fiction", despite its social and political themes. The "moral decline" caused by this situation is depicted as having caused a global war between an alliance of the US, Britain, and Russia against the "Chinese Hegemony" in the year 1987. Despite the alliance between the US and Russia, this war has been described as demonstrating Heinlein's anti-communist beliefs, which saw "swarming hordes" of Chinese as a bigger threat. The novel draws some comparisons between the Chinese and the Arachnids, and suggests that the lessons of one war could be applied to the other.


title: Starship Troopers

text: To Heinlein's surprise, "Starship Troopers" won the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1960. It has been acknowledged as one of the best-known and most influential works of science fiction. The novel is considered a landmark for the genre, having been described by a 1960 review as one of the ten best genre books of 1959, in a 2009 review as a key science fiction novel of the 1950s, and as the best-known example of military science fiction. It was also a personal landmark for Heinlein; it was one of his best-selling books, and is his best-known novel. The novel has been described as marking Heinlein's transition from writing juvenile fiction to a "more mature phase" as an author. Reviewing the book with others written for children, Floyd C. Gale of "Galaxy Science Fiction" wrote in 1960 that "Heinlein has penned a juvenile that "really" is not. This is a new and bitter and disillusioned Heinlein". Rating it 2.5 stars out of five for children, 4.5 stars for adults, and "?" for civilians, he believed that the novel would be "of exceptional interest to veterans with battle experience ... but youngsters will find it melancholy and verbose". Conversely, Michael Moorcock described it as Heinlein's last "straight" science fiction, before he turned to more serious writing such as "Stranger in a Strange Land".


title: Starship Troopers

text: By 1980, twenty years after its release, "Starship Troopers" had been translated into eleven languages and was still selling strongly. Heinlein nevertheless complained that, despite this success, almost all the mail he received about it was negative and he only heard about it "when someone wants to chew me out". The novel is highly contentious. Controversy surrounded its praise of the military and approval of violence, to the extent that it has frequently been described as fascist, and its implication that militarism is superior to traditional democracy. Heinlein's peers were among those who argued over the book; a comparison between a quote in "Starship Troopers" that "the noblest fate that a man can endure is to place his own mortal body between his loved home and war's desolation" and the anti-war poem "Dulce et Decorum Est" by Wilfred Owen began a two-year discussion in the "Proceedings of the Institute for Twenty-First Century Studies" from 1959 to 1961, with James Blish, Poul Anderson, Philip José Farmer, Anthony Boucher, John Brunner, Brian Aldiss, among those debating "Starship Troopers"s quality of writing, philosophy, and morality.


title: Starship Troopers

text: The writing in "Starship Troopers" has received varied responses, with the scenes of military training and combat receiving praise. In a 2009 retrospective, Jo Walton wrote that "Starship Troopers" was "military SF done extremely well". She went on to argue that "Heinlein was absolutely at his peak when he wrote this in 1959. He had so much technical stylistic mastery of the craft of writing science fiction that he could [tell the story] 'backwards and in high heels' and get away with it." Others referred to it as very readable, and found the military scenes compelling. Heinlein's descriptions of training and boot camp in the novel, based on his own experiences in the military, have been described as being rendered with remarkable skill. A 1960 review in the "New York Herald Tribune" praised the "brilliantly written" passages describing infantry combat, and also called attention to the discussion of weapons and armor, which, according to other reviewers, demonstrated Heinlein's "undiminished talent for invention". Scholar George Slusser described the book in 1986 as the "ultimately convincing space-war epic", praising in particular the "precisely imagined" weapons and tactics, while a 1979 science fiction encyclopedia referred to it as the "slickest" of Heinlein's juvenile books.


title: Starship Troopers

text: Criticism of the style of the book has centered on its political aspects. Heinlein's discussions of his political beliefs were criticized as "didactic", and the novel was derided for "exposition [that was] inserted in large indigestible chunks". Author Ken MacLeod's 2003 analysis of the political nature of "Starship Troopers" stated that it was "a book where civics infodumps and accounts of brutal boot-camp training far outweigh the thin and tensionless combat scenes". Scientist and author Brunner compared it to a "Victorian children's book", while the "Science Fiction Handbook" published in 2009 said that the novel provided "compelling images of a futuristic military" and that it raised important questions, even for those who disagree with its political ideology. However, it stated that the story was weak as a tale of an alien encounter, as it did not explore alien society in any detail, but presented the Arachnids as nameless and faceless creatures that wished to destroy humanity. Boucher, founder of "The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction", remarked in 1960 that Heinlein had "forgotten to insert a story". A 1979 summary said that though Heinlein's vision might verge on fascism, his tightly controlled narrative made his ideology seem "vibrantly appealing".


title: Starship Troopers

text: "Starship Troopers" is generally considered to promote militarism, the glorification of war and of the military. Scholar Bruce Franklin referred to it in 1980 as a "bugle-blowing, drum-beating glorification" of military service, and wrote that militarism and imperialism were the explicit message of the book. Science fiction writer Dean McLaughlin called it "a book-length recruiting poster". In 1968 science fiction critic Alexei Panshin called "Starship Troopers" a militaristic polemic and compared it to a recruiting film, stating that it "purports to show the life of a typical soldier, with a soundtrack commentary by earnest sincere Private Jones who interprets what we see for us." Panshin stated that there was no "sustained human conflict" in the book: instead, "All the soldiers we see are tough, smart, competent, cleancut, clean-shaven, and noble." Panshin, a veteran of the peacetime military, argued that Heinlein glossed over the reality of military life, and that the Terran Federation-Arachnid conflict existed simply because, "Starship troopers are not half so glorious sitting on their butts polishing their weapons for the tenth time for lack of anything else to do." Literature scholar George Slusser, in describing the novel as "wrong-headed and retrogressive", argued that calling its ideology militarism or imperialism was inadequate, as these descriptions suggested an economic motive. Slusser instead says that Heinlein advocates for a complete "technological subjugation of nature", of which the Arachnids are a symbol, and that this subjugation itself is depicted as a sign of human advancement.


title: Starship Troopers

text: A 1997 review in "Salon" stated that the novel could almost be described as propaganda, and was terrifying as a result, particularly in its belief that the boot camp had to be an ingredient of any civilization. This was described as a highly unusual utopian vision. Moorcock stated that the lessons Rico learns in boot camp: "wars are inevitable, [and] that the army is always right". In discussing the book's utility in classroom discussions of the form of government, Alan Myers stated that its depiction of the military was of an "unashamedly Earth-chauvinist nature". In the words of science fiction scholar Darko Suvin, "Starship Troopers" was an "unsubtle but powerful black-and-white paean to combat life", and an example of agitprop in favor of military values.


title: Starship Troopers

text: Other writers defended Heinlein. George Price argued that "[Heinlein] implies, first, that war is something endured, not enjoyed, and second, that war is so unpleasant, so desolate, that it must at all costs be kept away from one's home." Poul Anderson also defended some of the novel's positions, arguing "Heinlein has recognized the problem of selective versus nonselective franchise, and his proposed solution does merit discussion." Complaints were made against Heinlein for the lack of conscription in "Starship Troopers". When he wrote the novel, the military draft was still in effect in the US.


title: Starship Troopers

text: The society within the book has frequently been described as fascist. According to the 2009 "Science Fiction Handbook", it had the effect of giving Heinlein a reputation as a "fanatical warmongering fascist". Scholar Jeffrey Cass has referred to the setting of the book as "unremittingly grim fascism". He has stated that the novel made an analogy between its military conflict and those of the US after World War II, and that it justified US imperialism in the name of fighting another form of imperialism. Jasper Goss has referred to it as "crypto-fascist". Suvin compares Heinlein's suggestion that "all wars arise from population pressure" to the Nazi concept of "Lebensraum" or "living space" for a superior society that was used to justify territorial expansion.


title: Starship Troopers

text: Some reviewers have suggested that Heinlein was simply discussing the merits of a selective versus a nonselective franchise. Heinlein made a similar claim, over two decades after "Starship Troopers"'s publication, in his "Expanded Universe" and further claimed that 95 percent of "veterans" were not military personnel but members of the civil service. Heinlein's own description has been disputed, even among the book's defenders. Heinlein scholar James Gifford has argued that a number of quotes within the novel suggest that the characters within the book assume that the Federal Service is largely military. For instance, when Rico tells his father that he is interested in Federal Service, his father immediately explains his belief that Federal Service is a bad idea because there is no war in progress, indicating that he sees Federal Service as military in nature. Gifford states that although Heinlein's intentions may have been that Federal Service be 95 percent non-military, in relation to the actual contents of the book, Heinlein "is wrong on this point. Flatly so."


title: Starship Troopers

text: Dennis Showalter, writing in 1975, defended "Starship Troopers", stating that the society depicted in it did not contain many elements of fascism. He argues that the novel does not include outright opposition to bolshevism and liberalism that would be expected in a fascist society. Others have responded by saying Showalter's argument is based on a literal reading of the novel, and that the story glorifies militarism to a large extent. Ken Macleod argues that the book does not actually advocate fascism because anybody capable of understanding the oath of Federal Service is able to enlist and thereby obtain political power. Macleod states that Heinlein's books are consistently liberal, but cover a spectrum from democratic to elitist forms of liberalism, "Starship Troopers" being on the latter end of the spectrum. It has been argued that Heinlein's militarism is more libertarian than fascist, and that this trend is also present in Heinlein's other popular books of the period, such as "Stranger in a Strange Land" (1961) and "The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress" (1966). This period of Heinlein's writing has received more critical attention than any other, though he continued to write into the 1980s.


title: Starship Troopers

text: The setting of the book is presented by Heinlein as utopian; its leaders are shown as good and wise, and the population as free and prosperous. Slusser wrote in 1987 that "Starship Troopers" depicts a world that is "hell for human beings", but nonetheless celebrates the ideology of its fictional society. The rulers are claimed to be the best in history, because they understand that human nature is to fight for power through the use of force. The suggestion of utopia is not explored in depth, as the lives of those outside the military are not shown in any detail. The novel suggests that the militarist philosophy espoused by many of the characters has a mathematical backing, though reviewers have commented that Heinlein does not present any basis for this.


title: Starship Troopers

text: Writers such as Farmer, Robert A. W. Lowndes, and Michael Moorcock have criticized the novel for being a hypothetical utopia, in the sense that while Heinlein's ideas sound plausible, they have never been put to the test. Moorcock wrote an essay entitled "Starship Stormtroopers" in which he attacked Heinlein and other writers over similar "Utopian fiction". Lowndes accused Heinlein of using straw man arguments, "countering ingenuous half-truths with brilliant half-truths". Lowndes further argued that the Terran Federation could never be as idealistic as Heinlein portrays it to be because he never properly addressed "whether or not [non-citizens] have at least as full a measure of civil redress against official injustice as we have today". Farmer agreed, arguing that a "world ruled by veterans would be as mismanaged, graft-ridden, and insane as one ruled by men who had never gotten near the odor of blood and guts".


title: Starship Troopers

text: Authors and commentators have stated that the manner in which the extraterrestrial beings are portrayed in "Starship Troopers" has racist aspects, arguing that the nicknames "Bugs" and "Skinnies" carry racial overtones. John Brunner compared them to calling Koreans "gooks". Slusser argued that the term "Bugs" was an "abusive and biologically inaccurate" word that justified the violence against alien beings, a tendency which, according to Slusser, the book shared with other commercially successful science fiction.


title: Starship Troopers

text: Some of Heinlein's other works have also been described as racist, though Franklin argues that this was not unique to Heinlein, and that he was less racist than the US government of the time. Heinlein's early novel "Sixth Column" was called a "racist paean" to a white resistance movement against an Asian horde derived from the Yellow Peril. In 1978, Moorcock wrote that "Starship Troopers" "set the pattern for Heinlein's more ambitious paternalistic, xenophobic" stories. Robert Lowndes argues that the war between the Terrans and the Arachnids is not about a quest for racial purity, but rather an extension of Heinlein's belief that man is a wild animal. According to this theory, if man lacks a moral compass beyond the will to survive, and he was confronted by another species with a similar lack of morality, then the only possible moral result would be warfare.


title: Starship Troopers

text: The fact that all pilots in the novel are women (in contrast to the infantry, which is entirely male) has been cited as evidence of progressive gender politics within the story, although the idea expressed by Rico that women are the motivation for men to fight in the military is a counter-example to this. A 1996 science fiction encyclopedia said that like much of Heinlein's fiction, "Starship Troopers" exemplified "macho male culture". The prosthetically enhanced soldiers in the novel, all of whom are men, have been described as an example of the "hyper-masculinity" brought on by the proximity of these men to technology. The story portrays the Arachnids as so alien that the only response to them can be war. Feminist scholars have described this reaction as a "conventionally masculinist" one. Steffen Hantke has described the mechanized suits in the novel, which make the wearer resemble a "steel gorilla," as defining masculinity as "something intensely physical, based on animal power, instinct, and aggression". He calls this form of masculinity "all body, so to speak, and no brain". Thus, in Hantke's reading, "Starship Troopers" expresses fears of how masculinity may be preserved in an environment of high technology. This fear is exacerbated by the motifs of pregnancy and birth that Heinlein uses when describing how the soldiers in suits are dropped from spaceships piloted by women. Though Rico says he finds women "marvelous", he shows no desire for sexual activity; the war seems to have subsumed sex in this respect. A 1979 summary argued that despite the gestures towards women's equality, women in the story were still objects, to be protected, and to fight wars over.


title: Starship Troopers

text: Heinlein's books, and "Starship Troopers" in particular, had an enormous impact on political science fiction, to the extent that author Ken MacLeod has stated that "the political strand in [science fiction] can be described as a dialogue with Heinlein," although many participants in this dialogue disagree with Heinlein. Science fiction critic Darko Suvin states that "Starship Troopers" is the "ancestral text of US science fiction militarism" and that it shaped the debate about the role of the military in society for many years.


title: Starship Troopers

text: In addition to his political views, Heinlein's ideas about a futuristic military as depicted in the novel were deeply influential among films, books, and television shows in later years. Roger Beaumont has suggested that "Starship Troopers" may some day be considered a manual for extraterrestrial warfare. Suvin refers to Juan Rico as the "archetypal Space Soldier". "Starship Troopers" included concepts in military engineering which have since been widely used in other fiction, and which have occasionally been paralleled by scientific research. The novel has been cited as the source of the idea of powered armor exoskeletons, which Heinlein describes in great detail. Such suits became a staple of military science fiction. Franchises that have employed this technology include "Halo", "Elysium", "District 9", "Iron Man", and "Edge of Tomorrow". During the shooting of the classic science fiction film "Aliens", director James Cameron required the actors playing space marines to read "Starship Troopers" to understand their part, and also cited it as an influence for the space drop, terms like "bug hunt", and the cargo-loader exoskeleton.


title: Starship Troopers

text: "Starship Troopers" had a direct influence on many later science fiction stories. John Steakley's 1984 novel "Armor" was, according to the author, born out of frustration with the small amount of actual combat in "Starship Troopers" and because he wanted this aspect developed further. The 1988 Gainax OVA series "Gunbuster" has plot elements similar to Heinlein's novel, depicting humanity arrayed against an alien military. Scholars have identified elements of Heinlein's influence in "Ender's Game", by Orson Scott Card, as well. Hantke, in particular, compares the battle room in "Ender's Game" to Heinlein's prosthetic suits, stating that they both regulate but also enhance human agency. Suvin suggests parallels between the plots of the two novels, with human society in both stories at war against insect-like aliens, but states that the story of Ender Wiggin takes a very different direction, as Ender regrets his genocidal actions and dedicates his efforts to protecting his erstwhile targets.


title: Starship Troopers

text: Conversely, Joe Haldeman's 1974 anti-war, Hugo- and Nebula-winning science fiction novel "The Forever War" is popularly thought to be a direct reply to "Starship Troopers", and though Haldeman has stated that it is actually a result of his personal experiences in the Vietnam War, he has admitted to being influenced by "Starship Troopers". Haldeman said that he disagreed with "Starship Troopers" because it "glorifies war", but added that "it's a very well-crafted novel, and I believe Heinlein was honest with it". "The Forever War" contains several parallels to "Starship Troopers", including its setting. Commentators have described it as a reaction to Heinlein's novel, a suggestion Haldeman denies; the two novels are very different in terms of their attitude towards the military. "The Forever War" does not depict war as a noble pursuit, with the sides clearly defined as good and evil; instead, the novel explores the dehumanizing effect of war, influenced by the real world context of the Vietnam War. Haldeman received a letter from Heinlein, congratulating him on his Nebula Award, which "meant more than the award itself". According to author Spider Robinson, Heinlein approached Haldeman at the awards banquet and said the book "may be the best future war story I've ever read!"


title: Starship Troopers

text: Harry Harrison's 1965 novel "Bill, the Galactic Hero" has also been described as a reaction to "Starship Troopers", while Gordon R. Dickson's 1961 novel "Naked to the Stars" has been called "an obvious rejoinder" to "Starship Troopers". "Ring of Swords", written by Eleanor Arnason in 1993, also depicts a war between two highly aggressive species, of which humans are one. The story deliberately inverts several aspects of "Starship Troopers"; the story is told from the point of view of diplomats seeking to prevent war, rather than soldiers fighting it; and the conflict is the result of the two species being extremely similar, rather than different.


title: Starship Troopers

text: The film rights to the novel were licensed in the 1990s, several years after Heinlein's death. The project was originally entitled "Bug Hunt at Outpost Nine", and had been in production before the producers bought the rights to "Starship Troopers". The film was directed by Paul Verhoeven (who found the book too boring to finish), and released in 1997. The screenplay, by Ed Neumeier, shared character names and some plot details with the novel. The film contained several elements that differed from the book, including a military that is completely integrated with respect to sex. It had the stated intention of treating its material in an ironic or sarcastic manner, to undermine the political ideology of the novel. The mechanized suits that featured prominently in the novel were absent from the film, due to budget constraints.


title: Starship Troopers

text: The film utilized fascist imagery throughout, including portraying the Terran Federation's personnel wearing uniforms strongly reminiscent of those worn by the SS, the Nazi paramilitary. Verhoeven stated in 1997 that the first scene of the film—an advertisement for the Mobile Infantry—was adapted shot-for-shot from a scene in Leni Riefenstahl's "Triumph of the Will" (1935), specifically an outdoor rally for the Reichsarbeitsdienst. Other references to Nazism include the Albert Speer-style architecture and the propagandistic dialogue (""Violence is the supreme authority!""). According to Verhoeven, the references to Nazism reflected his own experience in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands during World War II.


title: Starship Troopers

text: The film reignited the debate over the nature of the Terran society in Heinlein's world, and several critics accused Verhoeven of creating a fascist universe. Others, and Verhoeven himself, have stated that the film was intended to be ironic, and to critique fascism. The film has also been described as criticizing the jingoism of US foreign policy, the military industrial complex, and the society in the film, which elevates violence over sensitivity. It received several negative critical reviews, reviewers suggesting that it was unsophisticated and targeted a juvenile audience, although some scholars and critics have also supported its description as satirical. The absence of the powered armor technology drew criticism from fans. The success of the film's endeavor to critique the ideology of the novel has been disputed.


title: Starship Troopers

text: Four sequels, "" (2004), "" (2008), "" (2012) and "" (2017) were released as straight-to-DVD films, respectively. In December 2011, Neal H. Moritz, producer of films such as the "Fast & Furious" series and "I Am Legend", announced plans for a remake of the film that he claims will be more faithful to the source material. In 2016 Mark Swift and Damian Shannon were reported to be writing the film. Commentators have suggested that a reboot would be as controversial as the original book.


title: Starship Troopers

text: From October to December 1988, Sunrise and Bandai Visual produced a six-episode Japanese original video animation locally titled "Uchū no Senshi" with mobile infantry power armor designs by Kazutaka Miyatake, based on "Starship Troopers". Dark Horse Comics, Mongoose Publishing and Markosia hold the license to produce comic books based on "Starship Troopers", written by authors including Warren Ellis, Gordon Rennie and Tony Lee. Avalon Hill published "Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers" in 1976, a map-and-counter board wargame featuring a number of scenarios as written in the novel. In 1998, Mythic Entertainment released "Starship Troopers: Battlespace". The web-based interactive game, in which players battled each other in overhead space combat, allowed players to assume either Klendathu or Federation roles, was developed alongside the film adaptation. "" was released by Mongoose Publishing in 2005, a miniature wargame which used material from the novel, film, and animated TV series. Spectre Media released "Starship Troopers: Invasion Mobile Infantry", a game for PCs, in 2012.


title: Steve Young

text: Jon Steven Young (born October 11, 1961) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons, primarily with the San Francisco 49ers. He also played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Prior to his NFL career, he was a member of the Los Angeles Express in the United States Football League (USFL) for two seasons. Young played college football for Brigham Young University (BYU), setting school and NCAA records en route to being runner-up for the 1983 Heisman Trophy.


title: Steve Young

text: Young was named the AP's NFL Most Valuable Player in 1992 and 1994, and was the MVP of Super Bowl XXIX where he led the 49ers to a victory over the San Diego Chargers with a record six touchdown passes. During his 1994 MVP campaign, he set a new NFL record for passer rating at 112.8. He is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame and the Pro Football Hall of Fame.


title: Steve Young

text: Young was an extremely efficient passer – leading the league in passer rating a record six times, and completion percentage and yards per attempt five times. At the time of his retirement, he had the highest passer rating among NFL quarterbacks with at least 1,500 passing attempts (96.8). As of the end of the 2020 season, he is ranked tenth all-time in passer rating, and is ranked third highest amongst retired players, behind only Drew Brees and Tony Romo. His 43 career rushing touchdowns are second among quarterbacks, while his 4,239 rushing yards ranks fifth all time.


title: Steve Young

text: Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, Young attended Greenwich High School in Greenwich, Connecticut, where he played quarterback on its Cardinals football team. He earned 1978 All-FCIAC West Division First Team honors in his junior year, his first year as a starter. In his senior year he rushed for 13 touchdowns and earned All-FCIAC West Division First Team honors, and was named to the CIAC All-State team. In the rush-first option offense run by Greenwich he completed only 41 percent of his throws for 1,220 yards, but ran the ball 267 times for 1,928 yards. On Thanksgiving Day in November 1979, Greenwich lost to Darien High School, known for its "Tidal Wave Defense", 17–0. During his senior year, he was co-captain of the football, basketball and baseball teams. In basketball, he averaged 15 points a game. In baseball, he hit .384 and played center field when he wasn't pitching. He was 5–1 and threw a 3–0 no-hitter against New Canaan High School.


title: Steve Young

text: Young was heavily recruited by the University of North Carolina. Coach Dick Crum was enamored of Young's running ability, and wanted him to run his option offense. Young instead chose BYU. Initially, he struggled at throwing the ball, and BYU's coaching staff considered switching him to defensive back because of his athleticism. However, he worked hard to improve his passing skills and eventually succeeded record-setting Jim McMahon as BYU's starting QB. Young's senior season (1983) was spectacular. He passed for 3,902 yards and 33 touchdowns in the regular season, and his 71.3% completion percentage set an NCAA single-season record. He also added 544 yards rushing. With Young at quarterback, BYU set an NCAA record by averaging 584.2 yards of total offense per game, with 370.5 of those yards coming from Young's passing and rushing. The Cougars finished the year with an impressive 11–1 record; Young was named a unanimous All-American and received the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award, which recognizes the nation's best collegiate quarterback each year. He also finished second in voting for the Heisman Trophy, behind Nebraska running back Mike Rozier. Young capped his college career by scoring the game-winning touchdown on a pass from the halfback in BYU's 21–17 victory over Missouri in the 1983 Holiday Bowl.


title: Steve Young

text: Young finished his college career with 592 pass completions for 7,733 yards and 56 touchdowns, along with 1,048 yards and 18 touchdowns rushing. He was enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame in 2001.


title: Steve Young

text: Young was selected by the Los Angeles Express in the first round (11th overall) of the 1984 USFL Draft. He signed a record ten-year, $40 million contract with the Express in He agreed to take his payment in the form of an annuity paid out over forty years to help the fledgling team.


title: Steve Young

text: It was taken for granted that Young would be the first pick in the 1984 NFL Draft, and that he would be selected by the Cincinnati Bengals, who were three years removed from the Super Bowl and had landed the No. 1 pick in a trade with the then-moribund Tampa Bay Buccaneers. However, the Bengals still had Ken Anderson as their quarterback and planned to have Young sit behind Anderson for the 1984 season before possibly taking over in 1985. Young found that prospect unappealing, which opened the door for the Express. Express general manager Don Klosterman told Young that if he signed with the Express, his head coach would be John Hadl, a former All-Pro quarterback who had shepherded John Elway through his first year in the NFL. Klosterman also told Young that Hall of Fame coach Sid Gillman, who had been hired as a consultant, would tutor him on how to be a pro quarterback. Young was convinced, and signed with the Express.


title: Steve Young

text: At the time, it was another huge signing by the fledgling league, which had already succeeded in signing both the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, running back Mike Rozier of Nebraska; and the previous winner, Georgia running back Herschel Walker. After missing the first six games of his rookie season while taking some college classes in order to graduate on time, Young started the final twelve. He had a respectable year, highlighted by becoming the first pro football player ever to pass for 300 yards and rush for 100 in a single game.


title: Steve Young

text: Despite a roster which included such future NFL players as Jojo Townsell, Mel Gray, and Kevin Nelson, and making the Western Conference title game in Young's first season, the Express were never able to create a sustaining fan base in Los Angeles. They often played to sparse crowds that looked even more so in the 95,000-seat Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.


title: Steve Young

text: Late in the season, "The New York Times" published an investigation of owner J. William Oldenburg's finances that suggested Oldenburg was not as well off as he claimed. The FBI had been investigating Oldenburg since the middle of the season. A week after the "Times" article, Oldenburg stopped paying the Express' bills, forcing the league to draw on the team's emergency line of credit to keep it going through the playoffs. Houston Gamblers minority partner Jay Roulier stepped in to buy the team, only to be pushed out when it emerged that he too had misrepresented his net worth. The league took control of the team and cut expenditures to the bare minimum. The other teams made contributions to keep the Express going through the season – enough to meet payroll, but not much else.


title: Steve Young

text: Under the circumstances, the 1985 season rapidly became a fiasco. Despite fielding essentially the same team as a year prior, the Express cratered to a 3-15 record. Even before a rash of injuries decimated the roster, Young and the other young players concluded that the Express would not be around for the planned move to a fall schedule in 1986. With this in mind, they played tentatively so as not to harm their NFL prospects.


title: Steve Young

text: Before the Express' final home game – which had been moved to Los Angeles Pierce College in the San Fernando Valley – the bus driver refused to leave unless he was paid up front in cash. Young contributed some money, as did the team trainer, and the driver took them to the game. In the season finale at Orlando, Young had to line up at tailback because a rash of injuries had left the Express without any healthy running backs. The owners had refused to allocate any money to allow the Express to replace injured players.


title: Steve Young

text: It was reported that Young had insured the contract and would still be paid until 2027. However, a 1985 "Los Angeles Times" article stated that he received a $1.4 million settlement on the annuity.


title: Steve Young

text: The league ceased operations in 1986 after losing most of its claims in an antitrust suit against the NFL, with its top talent absorbed by the NFL in a dispersal draft conducted in the aftermath.


title: Steve Young

text: Young grew increasingly dissatisfied with the disarray surrounding the Express. Just a week before what proved to be the last USFL title game, Young gave the USFL an ultimatum – find a new owner for the Express, or allow him to buy out his contract and go to the NFL. Soon after the league decided to suspend the Express's operations for the 1986 season, Young bought out his Express contract and signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who had made him the first pick in a supplemental draft of USFL and CFL players a year earlier.


title: Steve Young

text: By this time, the Bucs were in the midst of what would be 12 consecutive 10-loss seasons. They posted identical 2–14 records in Young's two seasons with them, going 3–16 with him as a starter. Young threw for only 11 touchdowns with 21 interceptions while completing fewer than 55% of his passes.


title: Steve Young

text: The Buccaneers selected University of Miami quarterback Vinny Testaverde first overall in the 1987 NFL Draft because Young was deemed a bust. Young was traded to the San Francisco 49ers on April 24, 1987 to serve as a backup to Joe Montana. 49ers coach Bill Walsh was impressed by Young's natural abilities, and believed his lackluster numbers were primarily due to the lack of talent around him in Tampa Bay.


title: Steve Young

text: The Buccaneers received second and fourth round draft picks in the trade, which they used to draft Miami linebacker Winston Moss, and Arizona State wide receiver Bruce Hill, respectively.


title: Steve Young

text: Young played behind Montana for four years, but shone as a backup. Substituting for an injured Montana, early in the first quarter of a 1987 game against the Chicago Bears, he threw four touchdown passes in a 41–0 victory. In their 1987 divisional playoff game against the Minnesota Vikings, he replaced Montana in the second half after the team fell behind 27–10. The 49ers still lost the game, but Young had a good performance, completing 12 of 17 pass attempts for 158 yards and a touchdown, with one interception, while also leading San Francisco in rushing with 72 yards and a touchdown on six carries. On October 30, 1988, Young ran for a 49-yard, game-winning touchdown against the Vikings. He started the game out with a 73-yard touchdown pass to John Taylor, after Montana went down with an injury. The play earned the 49ers a 24–21 victory and a bit of revenge on the Vikings for their previous season's playoff loss. The win turned out to be crucial, as without it the 49ers would have finished the season 9–7 and missed the playoffs, as two other teams in their division, the Los Angeles Rams and New Orleans Saints, had 10–6 records. Instead, the 49ers won their division, earned the #2 playoff seed, and went on to win the Super Bowl.


title: Steve Young

text: In 1989, he displayed potential to become the team's starter in the future. While Montana won the NFL MVP award and led the team to victory in Super Bowl XXIV, Young still had a good season, completing 69% of his passes for 1,001 yards and eight touchdowns, with only three interceptions. On October 22, 1989, he posted a perfect passer rating of 158.3 when he completed 11 of 12 passes for 188 yards and three touchdown passes in a 37–20 victory over the New England Patriots.


title: Steve Young

text: He rushed for a career-high 102 yards on just eight carries against the New Orleans Saints on December 23, 1990, making him only the second 49ers quarterback to rush for at least 100 yards in a single game. The 49ers lost the game 13–10.


title: Steve Young

text: Following an injury to Montana's elbow in the , which forced him to miss the entire 1991 season, Young got his chance to lead the 49ers. He got off to a rough start. Midway through the season, the 49ers found themselves struggling with a 4–4 record. In the ninth game of the season, after throwing a franchise-record 97-yard touchdown pass to Taylor, Young suffered a knee injury and was replaced by backup quarterback Steve Bono. After a loss in that game and the next, Bono led the 49ers to five consecutive victories, playing so well that coach George Seifert decided to keep him in the starting lineup after Young had recovered. It wasn't until late in the 15th game of the season, after Bono went down with an injury of his own, that Young got to play again. Young then closed out the season by throwing for 338 yards and three touchdowns and also rushing for 63 yards and another touchdown in a 52–14 win over the Chicago Bears in a "Monday Night Football" game at Candlestick Park.


title: Steve Young

text: Young finished the season with an NFL best 101.8 passer rating. Despite missing five full games and most of a sixth, he still threw for 2,517 yards and 17 touchdowns with only 8 interceptions. But despite Young's strong season, the season for the team was widely regarded as a disappointment. The 49ers had slipped from a 14–2 record in the previous season to a 10–6 record in 1991. While 10 wins is usually enough to make the playoffs, this time it was not, and San Francisco ended up not playing in the postseason for the first time since 1982. It was thought by many that Young's days as the 49ers starter were numbered due to the impending return of Montana from the injury to his right elbow, and some observers said the 49ers should trade Young and keep Montana and Bono. However, the trade never happened.


title: Steve Young

text: By the start of the 1992 season, it appeared that Young's starting job was in serious peril. In addition to having to compete with Bono, Montana appeared to be close to recovering from his elbow tendon surgery. San Francisco came close to trading Young to the Los Angeles Raiders, but no deal was finalized and it turned out that Montana would not recover in time to start in the opening game. Montana would not return until the final game of the 1992 season, a Monday Night home game against the Detroit Lions. Montana played the entire second half of that final game and guided the 49ers to victory.


title: Steve Young

text: Young ended up as San Francisco's starting quarterback, but once again got off to a rough start. On the fifth play of the opening game at the Giants, he suffered a concussion and was replaced by Bono, who threw two touchdown passes while leading the 49ers to a 31–14 win. The following week, San Francisco lost 34–31 to the Buffalo Bills, despite a career-high 449 passing yards and three touchdowns from Young, in a game that for the first time in NFL history had zero punts from either team.


title: Steve Young

text: Young recovered and led the 49ers on a five-game winning streak, capped off by a 56–17 win over the Atlanta Falcons in which Young passed for 399 yards and three touchdowns. After missing most of the next game (a 24–14 loss to the Cardinals) with the flu, he led San Francisco to victory in all of their remaining games of the season, giving the team a 14–2 record. He went on to throw for 227 yards and 2 touchdowns, and rush for 73 yards, in a 20–13 divisional playoff win over the Washington Redskins. The 49ers lost the , however, 30–20 against the eventual Super Bowl champion Dallas Cowboys. Young threw for 313 yards, completing 71.4% of his passes while passing for one touchdown and rushing for another. He also threw two interceptions, but the final one came with the outcome of the game already decided.


title: Steve Young

text: Young finished the season with 3,465 passing yards and 537 rushing yards, along with an NFL-best 25 touchdown passes and 107.0 passer rating, earning him the NFL Most Valuable Player Award and his first selection to the Pro Bowl. He was the first quarterback ever to record a triple-digit rating in consecutive seasons. Many credit Young's turnaround to the mentoring of the 49ers' new offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan, who worked with Young on combining his running skill with on-the-move passing decisions.


title: Steve Young

text: Before the start of the 1993 season, team owner Eddie DeBartolo Jr. announced that he wanted Montana to resume his role as starting quarterback for the 49ers. However, a rift in the locker room had developed, with players split on whom they wanted at quarterback. In the spring of 1993, at Montana's request, San Francisco traded Montana to the Kansas City Chiefs. Young was now the 49ers' undisputed starter, and would remain so for the rest of his career. But once again, he had a rough start to the season. Over the first four games of 1993, Young, who was hindered by a swollen thumb on his throwing hand, threw eight interceptions, more than he had thrown during the entire 1992 season. But after his thumb healed, Young went on an incredible streak over a span of seven games, throwing 16 touchdown passes with only 2 interceptions and a 122.2 passer rating. By the end of the year, Young set franchise records for most passing yards (4,023), and consecutive passes thrown without an interception (189), (later eclipsed by Alex Smith in 2012) while leading the NFL in touchdown passes (29) and passer rating (101.5). The team slipped to a 10–6 record, but advanced to the again by blowing out the New York Giants 44–3 in the divisional round. However, once again they were defeated by the Dallas Cowboys, this time 38–21.


title: Steve Young

text: After several key free agent signings (including All-Pro cornerback Deion Sanders) and NFL Draft selections, the 49ers looked to win their first Super Bowl since 1989. They started fast, beating the Los Angeles Raiders 44–14 on the strength of four touchdown passes from Young, one of four games during the regular season in which he had at least four. After a loss in a much-anticipated game to Joe Montana and the Kansas City Chiefs, the 49ers won their next two games before losing to the Philadelphia Eagles 40–8 at Candlestick Park, a game in which Young was eventually benched in the middle of an offensive series. Although head coach George Seifert later said he only pulled Young because he was getting manhandled by the Eagles' defense, Young had had enough of being scapegoated for 49er shortfalls and loudly (and visibly) lambasted Seifert over his decision while standing on the sideline during the game.


title: Steve Young

text: But the game was considered a turning point in the season; from there, Young led the team to 10 consecutive wins, by an average of 20 points, before losing the meaningless finale against the Vikings in which Young completed his first 12 of 13 attempts before going to the sidelines. They finished an NFL best 13–3, securing home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs. The 49ers had the number-one offense in the NFL, and were so dominant that Seifert often took Young out of games early if he felt that the 49ers had an insurmountable lead at the time.


title: Steve Young

text: After an easy 44–15 victory over the Chicago Bears in the divisional round of the playoffs, the 49ers jumped out to a 31–14 halftime lead over the Dallas Cowboys in the , holding on to win 38–28. Young threw for two touchdowns, while adding 47 yards and another touchdown on the ground. As a result, he went to his first Super Bowl as a starting quarterback. The 49ers were heavy favorites to become the first team with five Super Bowl victories.


title: Steve Young

text: On the strength of a six-touchdown performance that surpassed the previous Super Bowl record of five, owned by the man Young replaced, Joe Montana, Steve Young was named the MVP of Super Bowl XXIX, as the 49ers defeated the San Diego Chargers, 49–26. Young also threw for 325 yards and rushed for 49 yards, making him the first player ever to finish a Super Bowl as the game's leader in both rushing and passing yards.


title: Steve Young

text: The victory capped off an incredible year for Young, who had one of the best seasons by a quarterback in NFL history. He threw for 3,969 yards, a then-franchise record 35 touchdown passes with only 10 interceptions, completed 70.3 percent of his passes – the highest completion percentage of the 1990s, third all-time, and at the time, the best completion percentage by any quarterback with more than 400 attempts (later eclipsed by Drew Brees in 2009). Additionally, Young broke Joe Montana's single-season mark with a then-record 112.8 passer rating, and also once again demonstrated his great scrambling ability, accumulating another 289 yards and 7 touchdowns on the ground. For his record-breaking season performances, Young was awarded his second AP NFL MVP award, becoming the 7th player in NFL history to win both league and Super Bowl MVP honors in the same season.


title: Steve Young

text: In the three years following Super Bowl XXIX, the 49ers would be eliminated each year by Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers, twice in San Francisco. In addition to the early playoff exits, Young suffered a series of injuries that forced him to miss several games from 1995 to 1997. Young entered the 1998 season at age 37 and some began to wonder if his skills would diminish because of his history of injuries and a general decline in his game due to age. However, he silenced all critics once again, putting up career numbers in passing yards (4,170) and passing touchdowns (36). The 49ers finally beat Favre and the Packers in an that year, as Young threw the winning touchdown to wide receiver Terrell Owens with three seconds remaining to win the game 30–27. In reference to Dwight Clark's legendary catch against the Dallas Cowboys in the , Owens's grab was called "The Catch II". A week later, however, Garrison Hearst broke his ankle on the 49ers' first play from scrimmage. Without the threat of a running game, Young threw three interceptions (the last one a Hail Mary pass with under 30 seconds remaining in the game) and the 49ers were defeated by the Atlanta Falcons 20–18. Over that span of seasons from 1995 to 1998, Young led the NFL in passer rating twice (in 1996 and 1997), and led the NFL with 36 touchdown passes in 1998.


title: Steve Young

text: The 1999 season would turn out to be Young's last in the NFL. Young was plagued by concussions throughout his career. During a Week 3 "Monday Night Football" game against the Arizona Cardinals, Young was violently sacked by Cardinals cornerback Aeneas Williams on a blitz. Running back Lawrence Phillips was supposed to pick up Williams, but missed. Young was knocked out of the game with a concussion, and didn't return again for the rest of the season due to symptoms of post-concussion syndrome. The concussion he suffered against the Cardinals was reportedly his second in a season that was only three weeks old, and the seventh (at least) of his career. Following the season, the 49ers told him that he would be released if he did not retire. Although Young was offered a job as the starting quarterback of the Denver Broncos (where his former offensive coordinator, Mike Shanahan, was the head coach), he retired because of his repeated concussions. In a 2013 "Frontline" interview, Young said that, partially based upon their own experiences, he and many retired players are increasingly concerned about repeated concussions and subconcussive hits. He is particularly concerned about certain positions that take frequent hits, such as running backs and linemen.


title: Steve Young

text: Although Young did not become the 49ers' starter until his 8th NFL season, and he played a full season only three times (all consecutively) during his 15-year career, Young had a significant impact on the NFL. A two-time league MVP, he completed 2,667 of 4,149 passes for 33,124 yards and 232 touchdowns, with 107 interceptions, and 43 rushing touchdowns. His 96.8 career passer rating is the sixth highest in NFL history and second highest among retired players, behind Tony Romo; his 4,239 rushing yards are the fourth most ever gained by a quarterback, behind Michael Vick, Cam Newton, and Randall Cunningham. He was the NFL's top rated passer in six different seasons and led the league in touchdown passes four times. In 20 postseason games, he threw 20 touchdown passes with only 13 interceptions, and scored 8 touchdowns on the ground. In his stint with the San Francisco 49ers, Young passed for 29,907 yards, 221 touchdowns, and 86 interceptions, with a passer rating of 101.4, highest in franchise history. He was also sacked 290 times, also most in franchise history.


title: Steve Young

text: In 1999, he was ranked No. 63 on "The Sporting News" list of the 100 Greatest Football Players. Young was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame on February 5, 2005; he was the first left-handed quarterback to be so honored. He was enshrined August 7, 2005. His induction speech was given by his father, LeGrande "Grit" Young.


title: Steve Young

text: The San Francisco 49ers had his No. 8 jersey retired during a halftime ceremony against the New England Patriots on October 5, 2008. He was the 11th player in team history to receive this honor. He is also the only 49er in team history to wear No. 8.


title: Steve Young

text: In 2007, Young co-founded Huntsman Gay Global Capital (HGGC), with billionaire industrialist Jon M. Huntsman and former Bain Capital executive Robert C. Gay. After being involved in business ventures with the private equity firm, he has continued to serve as a managing director.


title: Steve Young

text: In 2011, Young was one of several notable BYU athletes and coaches who appeared in the school's "Real Cougar" advertising campaign, which featured the individuals telling an actual cougar about being a "real cougar". In one of the ads, Young poked fun at himself:


title: Steve Young

text: As of 2022 Young was serving as Chairman of the Board for Integrity Marketing Group and his private equity firm, Huntsman Gay Global Capital, held a position in the partnership.


title: Steve Young

text: Young has both performed dramatic roles and appeared as himself in a limited acting career. He appeared in one episode of "Frasier" and one episode of "" (cast as Lois' former high school football quarterback boyfriend, Joe Maloy). He also made a guest appearance as himself in the "Dharma & Greg" episode "Are You Ready for Some Football?" encouraging Dharma, the team's Number One Fan. In 1995, Young appeared as himself in the Season 6, Episode 12 episode of "Beverly Hills, 90210". He also made cameo appearances in the LDS comedy "The Singles Ward" (2002) and in a season 5 episode of BYUtv's "Studio C" (2014). Young also made a guest appearance as himself in season 8 of the NBC comedy series "Wings" in the episode "Just Call Me Angel".


title: Steve Young

text: Young was originally offered a part in the 1998 movie "There's Something About Mary", but turned the role down. He was replaced by Brett Favre.


title: Steve Young

text: Young serves as a National Advisor to . This non-profit organization plans expeditions to African and South American countries to provide life skills mentoring with sustainable solutions in education, enterprise, health and simple technology.


title: Steve Young

text: In 1993, Young founded a charitable foundation known as the "Forever Young Foundation", which serves children facing significant physical, emotional, and financial challenges by providing academic, athletic, and therapeutic opportunities otherwise unavailable to them.


title: Steve Young

text: Young also serves as the national spokesman for an organization founded by former Save Darfur Coalition executive director and founder, David Rubenstein. He began his affiliation with the organization in 2009, when he became the honorary league commissioner for their charitable dodgeball tournaments held on college campuses nationwide.


title: Steve Young

text: Young is a great-great-great-grandson of Brigham Young, second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for whom BYU is named.


title: Steve Young

text: Young has been married to Barbara Graham since 2000. They have two sons and two daughters. According to "A Football Life", as his playing career ended before his eldest child was born, he wrote his autobiography "QB: My Life Behind the Spiral" initially as a private memoir for his children.


title: Stephen Moyer

text: Stephen Moyer (born Stephen John Emery; 11 October 1969) is an English film and television actor who is best known as vampire Bill Compton in the HBO series "True Blood". His first television role was in 1993 as Philip Masefield in the TV adaptation of the play "Conjugal Rites", written by actor/playwright Roger Hall.


title: Stephen Moyer

text: This was followed by the television film "Lord of Misrule", filmed in Fowey, Cornwall, which also featured Richard Wilson, Emily Mortimer and Prunella Scales. In 1997, Moyer made his big-screen debut landing the lead role in the film adaptation of the long-running comic strip "Prince Valiant" by Hal Foster, working alongside Ron Perlman and Katherine Heigl. From 2017 to 2019, he starred as Reed Strucker, the lead role in Fox series "The Gifted".


title: Stephen Moyer

text: Moyer was born in Brentwood, Essex and attended St Martin's, a comprehensive school in Hutton, Essex. He graduated from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA). He became Brentwood Theatre's first patron in October 2007, especially supporting their "Reaching Out, Building On" campaign to help fund the 2008 completion of backstage facilities. After graduating from LAMDA, Moyer worked in theatre for five years. He worked with the National Theatre Wales, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Oxford Stage Company, work which included going on tour and playing Romeo in productions of "Romeo and Juliet". He then made the transition to television and film.


title: Stephen Moyer

text: On 2 October 2017, Moyer debuted in the lead role of Reed Strucker, a district attorney whose duties include the apprehension of "mutants" with extraordinary powers, in the Fox series "The Gifted", loosely based on "The X-Men" feature film series. The devoted family man does not realise, however, just how much his work life and family life are about to intersect. Fox ordered a 10-episode first season.


title: Stephen Moyer

text: Moyer has a son named Billy, born in 2000, from his first marriage. He also has a daughter, Lilac, from his seven-year relationship with journalist Lorien Haynes.


title: Stephen Moyer

text: In August 2009, Moyer became engaged to actress Anna Paquin, who played his character's love interest, Sookie Stackhouse, in the HBO series "True Blood". They had been dating since filming the series pilot in 2007. The couple married on 21 August 2010 at a private residence in Malibu, California. Moyer and Paquin have a son, Charlie, and a daughter, Poppy, who are fraternal twins. The family resides in Venice, Los Angeles.


title: Stephen Moyer

text: Moyer has dealt with alcoholism in the past. In 2015, he said that he had been sober for 14 years and that the addiction stemmed from his roots in British theatre, emulating the public images of personal heroes like Peter O’Toole. At a CLARE Foundation dinner he stated, “There's this rush that happens from doing our job, this whirring buzz, and you want to continue that buzz." He now works with CLARE Foundation (a southern California non-profit facility) to help others with rehabilitation and sobriety.


title: San Francisco International Airport

text: San Francisco International Airport is an international airport in an unincorporated area of San Mateo County, south of Downtown San Francisco. It has flights to points throughout North America and is a major gateway to Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia.


title: San Francisco International Airport

text: SFO is the largest airport in the San Francisco Bay Area and the second-busiest in California, after Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). In 2017, it was the seventh-busiest airport in the United States and the 24th-busiest in the world by passenger count. It is the fifth-largest hub for United Airlines, which operates out of Terminal 3 and the International Terminal. SFO functions as United's primary transpacific gateway. Additionally, SFO is a major maintenance hub for United Airlines and houses the SFO Museum that was created in 1980, the first museum in an international airport. It also serves as a hub for Alaska Airlines, which operates in Terminal 2.


title: San Francisco International Airport

text: The airport is owned and operated by the City and County of San Francisco and lies in a ZIP code assigned to San Francisco. However, it is located outside of San Francisco in unincorporated San Mateo County. Between 1999 and 2004, the San Francisco Airport Commission operated city-owned SFO Enterprises, Inc., to oversee its business purchases and operations of ventures.


title: San Francisco International Airport

text: The City and County of San Francisco first leased at the present airport site on March 15, 1927, for what was then to be a temporary and experimental airport project. San Francisco held a dedication ceremony at the airfield, officially named the Mills Field Municipal Airport of San Francisco, on May 7, 1927, on the 150-acre cow pasture. The land was leased from the Mills Estate in an agreement made with Ogden L. Mills who oversaw the large tracts of property originally acquired by his grandfather, the banker Darius O. Mills. San Francisco purchased the property and the surrounding area expanding the site to beginning in August 1930. The airport's name was officially changed to San Francisco Airport in 1931 upon the purchase of the land. "International" was added at the end of World War II as overseas service rapidly expanded.


title: San Francisco International Airport

text: The earliest scheduled carriers at the airport included Western Air Express, Maddux Air Lines, and Century Pacific Lines. United Airlines was formed in 1934 and quickly became the key carrier at the airport, with Douglas DC-3 service to Los Angeles and New York beginning in January 1937. A new passenger terminal opened in 1937, built with Public Works Administration funding. The March 1939 Official Aviation Guide shows 18 airline departures on weekdays—seventeen United flights and one TWA flight. The August 1952 chart shows runway 1L 7,000 feet long, 1R 7,750 feet, 28L 6,500 feet, and 28R 8,870 feet.


title: San Francisco International Airport

text: In addition to United, Pacific Seaboard Air Lines flew between San Francisco and Los Angeles in 1933; the Bellanca CH-300s flew San Francisco – San Jose – Salinas – Monterey – Paso Robles – San Luis Obispo – Santa Maria – Santa Barbara – Los Angeles. Competition with United led Pacific Seaboard to move all of its operations to the eastern U.S., and rename itself Chicago and Southern Air Lines (C&S). It became a large domestic and international air carrier. Chicago & Southern was acquired by and merged into Delta Air Lines in 1953, giving Delta its first international routes. Delta used the route authority inherited from C&S to fly one of its first international services operated with Convair 880 jet aircraft from San Francisco to Montego Bay, Jamaica and Caracas, Venezuela via intermediate stops in Dallas and New Orleans in 1962.


title: San Francisco International Airport

text: During World War II the airport was used as a Coast Guard base and Army Air Corps training and staging base. The base was called Naval Auxiliary Air Facility Mills Field and Coast Guard Air Station, San Francisco. Pan American World Airways (Pan Am), which had operated international flying boat service from Treasure Island, had to move its Pacific and Alaska seaplane operations to SFO in 1944 after Treasure Island was expropriated for use as a military base. Pan Am began service from SFO after World War II with five weekly flights to Honolulu, one of which continued to Canton Island, Fiji, New Caledonia, and Auckland.


title: San Francisco International Airport

text: The first service by foreign carriers was on Australian National Airways (ANA) Douglas DC-4s flown by British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines. Sydney – Auckland – Fiji – Kanton Island – Honolulu – San Francisco – Vancouver, BC. The first flight left Australia on September 15, 1946. In 1947 Pan American World Airways began its "round the world" flights from SFO to Guam, Japan, the Philippines, China and other countries; Pan Am also flew to Sydney from SFO. 1947 saw the start of United Airlines Douglas DC-6 flights to Hawaii and Philippine Airlines flights to Manila.


title: San Francisco International Airport

text: TWA began flying Lockheed Constellations (L-1649A's) nonstop to London Heathrow and Paris Orly in 1957. In 1954 Qantas took over the ANA/BCPA route from SFO to Sydney; starting in 1959 their Boeing 707s flew to Sydney via Honolulu and Nadi, Fiji, and in the other direction to New York and London. Pan Am scheduled Boeing 707-320s from Tokyo nonstop to SFO (winter only at first) starting in 1960–61; the westbound nonstops had to await the longer range Boeing 707-320B. British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC, a predecessor of British Airways) arrived in 1957; in 1960 its Bristol Britannias flew London – New York City – San Francisco – Honolulu – Wake Island – Tokyo – Hong Kong as part of BOAC's around-the-world service. By 1961 BOAC had replaced the Britannias with Boeing 707s that did not require the fuel stop at the Wake Island Airfield. Japan Airlines (JAL) arrived at SFO in 1954; in 1961 it was flying Douglas DC-8s San Francisco – Honolulu – Tokyo. In 1961 Lufthansa had begun serving SFO with Boeing 707s flying San Francisco – Montreal Dorval Airport – Paris Orly Airport – Frankfurt three days a week. Lufthansa operated Boeing 720Bs on this routing in 1963 along with Boeing 707s to Frankfurt via Montreal and London Heathrow Airport. Pan Am/Panagra service from SFO to South America was taken over in the late 1960s by Braniff International, which operated Douglas DC-8-62s to SFO after Braniff's acquisition of Panagra. In 1970 CP Air (formerly Canadian Pacific Air Lines) Boeing 737-200s flew nonstop to Vancouver, BC and on to Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal.


title: San Francisco International Airport

text: The first nonstops to the U.S. east coast were United Douglas DC-7s in 1954. The airport's new Terminal Building opened on August 27, 1954. The large display of aircraft including a Convair B-36 Peacemaker bomber, was a marvel for its time. The building became the Central Terminal with the addition of the South Terminal and the North Terminal and was heavily rebuilt as the International Terminal in 1984 and then modified again as the current Terminal 2. Domestically, the April 1957 Official Airline Guide (OAG) lists 71 scheduled weekday departures on United (plus ten flights a week to Honolulu), 22 on Western Airlines, 19 on Southwest Airways (which was later renamed Pacific Air Lines), 12 on Trans World Airlines (TWA), seven on American Airlines and three on Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA). As for international flights, Pan American had 21 departures a week, Japan Airlines (JAL) had five, and Qantas also had five.


title: San Francisco International Airport

text: Southwest Airways began flying scheduled passenger operations from SFO in 1946 with war surplus C-47s, the military version of the Douglas DC-3. In the late 1950s, Southwest Airways changed its name to Pacific Air Lines, which was based at SFO.


title: San Francisco International Airport

text: In 1959 Pacific Air Lines began flying new Fairchild F-27s from SFO and by 1966 was flying new Boeing 727-100s from the airport. Pacific used the 727 to introduce the first jet service from San Francisco to several cities in California including Bakersfield, Eureka/Arcata, Fresno, Lake Tahoe, Monterey and Santa Barbara.


title: San Francisco International Airport

text: In 1968 Pacific merged with Bonanza Air Lines and West Coast Airlines to form Air West, which also had its headquarters at SFO. West Coast Airlines had served SFO mainly with Douglas DC-9-10s and Fairchild F-27s to Oregon and Washington states. In 1970, Air West was acquired by Howard Hughes who renamed the airline Hughes Airwest, which continued to be based at the airport where it also operated a hub. By the late 1970s, the airline was operating an all-jet fleet of Boeing 727-200, Douglas DC-9-10, and McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 jetliners serving an extensive route network in the western U.S. with flights to Mexico and western Canada as well. Hughes Airwest was eventually acquired by Minneapolis-based Republic Airlines (1979–1986) in 1980 and the airline's headquarters office at SFO was closed.


title: San Francisco International Airport

text: The jet age arrived at SFO in March 1959 when TWA introduced Boeing 707-131s nonstop to New York Idlewild Airport (which was renamed JFK Airport in 1963). United then constructed a large maintenance facility in San Francisco for its new Douglas DC-8s, which were also flying nonstop to New York. In July 1959 the first jetway bridge was installed at SFO, one of the first in the United States. On the cover of January 3, 1960, American Airlines timetable contained this message: ""NOW! 707 JET FLAGSHIP SERVICE – NONSTOP SAN FRANCISCO – NEW YORK: 2 FLIGHTS DAILY"" Also in 1960, Western Airlines was operating "champagne flights" with Boeing 707s and Lockheed L-188 Electras to Los Angeles, Seattle, San Diego and Portland, OR.


title: San Francisco International Airport

text: In 1961 the airport had helicopter service on San Francisco and Oakland Helicopter Airlines (known as SFO Helicopter Airlines, and as SFO Helicopter) with 68 flights a day. Helicopters flew from SFO to downtown heliports in San Francisco and Oakland, to a new heliport near the Berkeley Marina and to Oakland Airport (OAK). In its timetable, SFO Helicopter Airlines, which was based at the airport, described its rotorcraft as "modern, jet turbine powered Sikorsky S-62 ten passenger amphibious helicopters".


title: San Francisco International Airport

text: By 1962 Delta Air Lines was flying Convair 880s to SFO on one its first international jet services, San Francisco – Dallas Love Field – New Orleans – Montego Bay, Jamaica – Caracas, Venezuela. Also in 1962, National Airlines began flying Douglas DC-8s San Francisco – Houston Hobby Airport – New Orleans – Miami.


title: San Francisco International Airport

text: By 1960 all Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA) flights out of SFO were operated with Lockheed L-188 Electras nonstop to Los Angeles (LAX) and Burbank (BUR, now Bob Hope Airport) with some flights continuing to San Diego. In summer 1962 PSA had 14 departures a day Monday through Thursday to southern California, 21 departures on Friday and 22 on Sunday. In 1965 PSA was operating new Boeing 727-100s which were joined in 1967 by Boeing 727-200s and McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30s. In 1974 PSA was flying two wide body Lockheed L-1011 TriStars. After the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, PSA expanded outside of California.


title: San Francisco International Airport

text: In 1967 another intrastate airline joined PSA at SFO: Air California, flying Lockheed L-188 Electras nonstop to Orange County Airport (SNA, now John Wayne Airport). Like PSA, Air California (later renamed AirCal) eventually became an all-jet airline and expanded outside of California. AirCal was merged into American Airlines while PSA was merged into USAir (later renamed US Airways which in turn eventually merged with American Airlines).


title: San Francisco International Airport

text: The airport closed following the Loma Prieta earthquake on October 17, 1989, reopening the following morning. Minor damage to the runways was quickly repaired.


title: San Francisco International Airport

text: In 1989, a master plan and Environmental Impact Report were prepared to guide development over the next two decades.


title: San Francisco International Airport

text: During the boom of the 1990s and the dot-com boom SFO became the sixth busiest airport in the world, but since 2001, when the boom ended, SFO has fallen out of the top 20. United Express turboprops were scheduled 60 minutes apart to the shuttle connecting passengers between SFO and nearby San Jose International Airport during the boom era. United Groundlink supplemented this service with alternate 60-minute frequencies.


title: San Francisco International Airport

text: A $2.4 billion International Terminal Complex opened in December 2000, replacing Terminal 2 (known then as the International Terminal). The new International Terminal includes the San Francisco Airport Commission Aviation Museum and Library and the Louis A. Turpen Aviation Museum, as part of the SFO Museum. SFO's long-running museum exhibition program, now called SFO Museum, won unprecedented accreditation by the American Alliance of Museums in 1999.


title: San Francisco International Airport

text: SFO experiences delays (known as "flow control") in overcast weather when only two of the airport's four runways can be used at a time because the centerlines of the parallel runway sets (01R/01L and 28R/28L) are only apart. Airport planners advanced proposals that would extend the airport's runways by adding up to of fill to San Francisco Bay and increase their separation by up to in 1998 to accommodate arrivals and departures during periods of low visibility. Other proposals included three floating runways, each approximately long and wide. The airport would be required by law to restore Bay land elsewhere in the Bay Area to offset the fill. One mitigation proposal would have the airport purchase and restore the of South Bay wetlands owned by Cargill Salt to compensate for the new fill. These expansion proposals met resistance from environmental groups, including the Sierra Club, fearing damage to the habitat of animals near the airport, recreational degradation (such as windsurfing) and bay water quality.


title: San Francisco International Airport

text: State Senator John L. Burton introduced SB 1562 on February 18, 2000, to bypass the environmental impact study that would normally be required for a large project like the proposed Bay fill and mitigation in order to expedite construction. SB 1562 was signed into law on September 29, 2000. A study commissioned by the airport and released in 2001 stated that alternatives to airport expansion, such as redirecting traffic to other regional airports (Oakland or San Jose), capping the number of flights, or charging higher landing fees at selected times of the day 2001 would result in higher fares and poorer service. However, the proposal to build new runways on Bay fill continued to attract opposition from environmental groups and local residents. The airport expansion cost was estimated at in 1998, rising to a year later, including an estimate of for the Cargill wetlands purchase and restoration.


title: San Francisco International Airport

text: The delays during poor weather (among other reasons) caused some airlines, especially low-cost carriers such as Southwest Airlines, to shift all of their services from SFO to the Oakland and San Jose airports. However, Southwest eventually returned to San Francisco in 2007.


title: San Francisco International Airport

text: A long-planned extension of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system to the airport opened on June 22, 2003, allowing passengers to board BART trains at the international or domestic terminals and have direct rail transportation to downtown San Francisco, Oakland, and the East Bay. On February 24, 2003, the AirTrain people mover opened, transporting passengers between terminals, parking lots, the BART station, and the rental car center on small automatic trains.


title: San Francisco International Airport

text: SFO became the base of operations for start-up airline Virgin America, with service to over 20 destinations. On October 4, 2007, an Airbus A380 jumbo jet made its first visit to SFO. On July 14, 2008, SFO was voted Best International Airport in North America for 2008 in the World Airports Survey by Skytrax. The following year on June 9, Skytrax announced SFO as the second-best International Airport in North America in the 2009 World Airports Survey, losing to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.


title: San Francisco International Airport

text: In response to longstanding FAA concerns that the airport's air traffic control tower, located atop Terminal 2, could not withstand a major earthquake, on July 9, 2012, crews broke ground for a new torch-shaped tower. The new tower is located between Terminals 1 and 2, and the base of the tower building contains passages between the two terminals for passengers both pre- and post-security screening, which dictated the narrow tower base. Originally scheduled for completion in the summer of 2016 at a cost of $102 million, the new tower began operations on October 15, 2016.


title: San Francisco International Airport

text: SFO was one of several US airports that operated the Registered Traveler program from April 2007 until funding ended in June 2009. This program let travelers who had paid for pre-screening pass through security checkpoints quickly. Baggage and passenger screening is operated by Covenant Aviation Security, a Transportation Security Administration contractor, nicknamed "Team SFO". SFO was the first airport in the United States to integrate in-line baggage screening into its baggage handling system and has been a model for other airports since the September 11 attacks in 2001.


title: San Francisco International Airport

text: In September 2018, SFO announced plans to use sustainable fuels after signing an agreement with fuel suppliers, airlines, and agencies. As part of the agreement, Shell and SkyNRG began supplying sustainable aviation fuel to KLM, SAS, and Finnair flights operating out of SFO.


title: San Francisco International Airport

text: Like all airports, SFO sustained a massive decline in traffic in 2020 and 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The only upside was that the decline reduced traffic to levels easily handled in all weather conditions. This enabled SFO to demonstrate its many strengths as an well-run, well-designed international airport, which had been overlooked for many decades by stressed-out travelers frustrated with weather-related delays and cancellations. In 2022, SFO was ranked no. 1 by "The Wall Street Journal" on its list of Best Large U.S. Airports, on which the airport was ranked no. 1 for both reliability and convenience.


title: San Francisco International Airport

text: The airport covers at an elevation of . It has four asphalt runways, arranged in two intersecting sets of parallel runways:


title: San Francisco International Airport

text: Runways are named for their magnetic heading, to the nearest ten degrees; hence the runways at 14° from magnetic north are 01L/01R, and the runways at 284° are 28R/28L. The layout of the parallel runways (1L/1R and 28R/28L) was established in the 1950s, and have a separation (centerline to centerline) of only .


title: San Francisco International Airport

text: During normal operations (approximately 81% of the time), domestic departures use Runways 1L and 1R for departure while overseas international departures and all arrivals use Runways 28L and 28R, taking advantage of the prevailing west-northwesterly wind coming through the San Bruno Gap. During periods of heavy winds or if operations at Oakland International Airport conflict with SFO departures (approximately 15% of the time), Runways 1L and 1R cannot be used, and so all departures and all arrivals use Runways 28L and 28R. These configurations are known collectively as the "West Plan", and accommodate arrivals at a rate of up to 60 aircraft per hour. Under visual flight rules, aircraft may safely land side-by-side essentially simultaneously on 28L and 28R while maintaining visual separation.


title: San Francisco International Airport

text: When the visual approach is compromised, the "West Plan" is maintained with a modification to allow aircraft landing on 28L to use Instrument Landing System (ILS) while the aircraft landing on 28R takes an offset course, monitored via high scan rate ground radar, to maintain a lateral spacing greater than 750 ft until the aircraft can maintain visual separation. Visual separation typically occurs once the aircraft has descended below the cloud deck at an altitude of 2,100 feet (640 m). This is known as the Precision Runway Monitor/Simultaneous Offset Instrument Approach and reduces the capacity to 36 arriving aircraft per hour. In poor visibility conditions, FAA instrument approach rules require aircraft to maintain lateral separation of 4,300 feet (1,300 m), meaning only one runway may be used, reducing the capacity of SFO to 25-30 arriving aircraft per hour.


title: San Francisco International Airport

text: During rainstorms (approximately 4% of the time), the prevailing winds shift to a south-southeasterly direction, and departing aircraft use Runways 10L and 10R, and arriving aircraft use Runways 19L and 19R. This configuration is known as the "Southeast Plan".


title: San Francisco International Airport

text: On rare occasions (less than one day per year, on average), wind conditions dictate other runway configurations, including departures and landings on Runways 10L and 10R, departures and landings on Runways 1L and 1R, and departures on Runways 19L and 19R and landings on Runways 28L and 28R.


title: San Francisco International Airport

text: In 2019, SFO had 458,496 aircraft operations, an average of 1,255 per day. This consisted of 86% scheduled commercial, 11% air taxi, 2% general aviation and <1% military. There were 14 aircraft based at SFO, 6 jets, 1 helicopter and 7 military aircraft.


title: San Francisco International Airport

text: SFO was one of the first airports to implement a Fly Quiet Program, which grades airlines on their performance on noise abatement procedures while flying in and out of SFO. The Jon C. Long Fly Quiet Program was started by the Aircraft Noise Abatement Office to encourage airlines to operate as quietly as possible at SFO.