"How did a shaky startup defy expectations and become the world's leading spaceflight company? Get the untold story of the team of game-changers, led by a well-known billionaire, who are sending NASA astronauts to space—and just might carry the human race to Mars.
One company dominates the modern space industry: SpaceX, founded by controversial entrepreneur Elon Musk in 2002, now sending more payloads into orbit than the rest of the world combined. But Musk didn't do it alone; the saga of SpaceX is the story of a diverse cadre of true believers in the limitless potential of space travel.
For the first time, Reentry relates the definitive chronicle of how this daring team was able to redefine what it takes to reach the stars.
With Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist Eric Berger, author of Liftoff, as your guide, you'll accompany SpaceX's innovative thinkers during their toughest trials and most audacious moments, including:
- Creating the first orbital rockets that land by themselves and fly again
- Transporting a 120-foot rocket from Texas to Florida
- Recovering from a 'Hell's Bells' accident before the first Falcon Heavy launch
- Frantically searching the ocean for the first rocket that splashed down intact
- Identifying the twenty-dollar part that led to a rocket exploding in flight
- Slicing up an engine days before it launched into space
From launchpad explosions to a pernicious cricket infestation to the demanding management style of Musk himself, the rise of SpaceX was beset with challenges and far from inevitable. Find out how the startup beat the odds and flew high enough to outpace their rivals... and where they're going next."
"‘Just read it.’ Elon Musk
The dramatic inside story of SpaceX ― the world's leading edge rocket company, whose charismatic and controversial founder now advises the White House
SpaceX has enjoyed a miraculous decade. Less than 20 years after its founding, it boasts the largest constellation of commercial satellites in orbit, has pioneered reusable rockets, and in 2020 became the first private company to launch human beings into orbit. Half a century after the space race SpaceX is pushing forward into the cosmos, laying the foundation for our exploration of other worlds.
But before it became one of the most powerful players in the aerospace industry, SpaceX was a fledgling startup, scrambling to develop a single workable rocket before the money ran dry. The engineering challenge was immense; numerous other private companies had failed similar attempts. And even if SpaceX succeeded, they would then have to compete for government contracts with titans such as Lockheed Martin and Boeing, who had tens of thousands of employees and tens of billions of dollars in annual revenue. SpaceX had fewer than 200 employees and the relative pittance of $100 million in the bank.
In Liftoff, Eric Berger takes readers inside the wild early days that made SpaceX. Focusing on the company’s first four launches of the Falcon 1 rocket, he charts the bumpy journey from scrappy underdog to aerospace pioneer. drawing upon exclusive interviews with dozens of former and current engineers, designers, mechanics, and executives, including Elon Musk. The enigmatic Musk, who founded the company with the dream of one day settling Mars, is the fuel that propels the book with a daring vision for the future of space – this same bravado has now landed him a role in the second Trump administration."
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