A momentous look at the private companies building a revolutionary new economy in space, from the New York Times bestselling author of Elon Musk.
In When the Heavens Went on Sale, Ashlee Vance illuminates our future and unveils the next big technology story of our time: welcome to the Wild West of aerospace engineering and its unprecedented impact on our lives.
With the launch of SpaceX’s Falcon 1 rocket in 2008, Silicon Valley began to realize that the universe itself was open for business. Now, Vance tells the remarkable, unfolding story of this frenzied intergalactic land grab by following four pioneering companies—Astra, Firefly, Planet Labs, and Rocket Lab—as they build new space systems and attempt to launch rockets and satellites into orbit by the thousands.
With the public fixated on the space tourism being driven by the likes of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Richard Branson, these new, scrappy companies arrived with a different set of goals: to make rocket and satellite launches fast and cheap, thereby opening Earth’s lower orbit for business. Vance has had a front-row seat and singular access to this peculiar and unprecedented moment in history, and he chronicles it all in full color: the top-secret launch locations, communes, gun-toting bodyguards, drugs, espionage investigations, and multimillionaires guzzling booze to dull the pain as their fortunes disappear.
Through immersive and intimate reporting, When the Heavens Went on Sale reveals the spectacular chaos of the new business of space, and what happens when the idealistic, ambitious minds of Silicon Valley turn their unbridled vision toward the limitless expanse of the stars. This is the tale of technology’s most pressing and controversial revolution, as told through fascinating characters chasing unimaginable stakes in the race to space.
Ashlee Vance is an award winning feature writer for Bloomberg Businessweek magazine. Vance is also the host of the "Hello World" TV show. Previously, he worked for The New York Times and The Register.
Vance was born in South Africa, grew up in Texas and attended Pomona College. He has spent more than a decade covering the technology industry from San Francisco and is a noted Silicon Valley historian.
I remember enjoying Ashlee Vance's biography of Elon Musk (although it's hard to like his subject nowadays), so I was eager to read the next volume of his space non-fiction saga. And I was not disappointed. Vance is a gifted storyteller, and once again he focuses not on science or technology but on the people behind it, while simultaneously painting a broad panorama of the current state of play in the field.
I learned a lot from this book - he is right that we rarely look up and pay attention to the booming business being created in lower orbit. I am not a techno-optimist, and I am not enthusiastic about satellites constantly photographing everything that happens on the planet, nor am I convinced that ubiquitous Wi-Fi is necessarily a good thing. But we can't turn a blind eye to the revolution that is taking place. The characters in this book seem passionate and sincere, but let's not forget that Mark Zuckerberg, for instance, always talks about connecting people and making the world a better place, not about facilitating genocide in Myanmar or spreading anti-vaxxer disinformation. Still, Vance's enthusiasm for technological breakthroughs is refreshing after so many gloomy and depressing essays I've read lately.
Thanks to the publisher, Ecco, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.
These days, it is difficult to write a book about aerospace without mentioning SpaceX or its outspoken founder. In this book, Ashlee Vance, feature writer at Bloomberg Businessweek and famous Elon Musk biographer, attempts to do such that, writing about the “misfits and geniuses” transforming modern space flight who have been toiling under the radar in labs and workshops for years. Vance focuses on several enterprises with competitive constructs of both satellite observatories (Planet Labs) and rocket designs that aim to shuttle both small (Astra and Rocket Lab) and large (Firefly Aerospace) payloads to orbit both routinely and inexpensively. Vance has interviewed the founders and financiers of these companies to understand what makes them tick, and to discern how they are staying afloat in an industry where failure is more common than success.
Unfortunately, this book fails to exceed expectations. The writing style is generally unsophisticated and plainspoken, on the verge of lazy, and the author generally glosses over the technology without fully reckoning with its significance. Readers do not get a comprehensive discussion of the full suite of launch vehicles and products offered by these companies, and the few designs that are discussed lack detailed discussion at a granular level of why they are technologically innovative. Relatedly, the author relies heavily on interviews to construct his narrative, and the prose largely just recites those interviews; in fact, later chapters sloppily feature whole published conversations among interviewed subjects that span multiple pages. This book more accurately serves as a series of biographical vignettes, rather than a serious and nuanced reckoning with the companies and the nuts and bolts of their technological innovations. The author is also largely uncritical of the interviewed subjects even in their slights, and the evaluation of these companies comes across as more praiseworthy than even-keeled.
In sum, this book is amateurish, shallow, and generally uninformative. The author substitutes serious and sophisticated discussion of actual product innovations with glossy summaries, lazily unpacked interview material, and rose-colored commentary on the characters driving these innovations. Skip.
Note: I reviewed the uncorrected proof of this book. The specified release date is May 9, 2023.
An absolutely engrossing read. Vance tells the stories of four space companies: Planet Labs, Rocket Lab, Astra, and Firefly. The man knows how to tell a great story, and this was a book that I could not put down. Its out in May 9 and it sold absolutely be on your TBR.
I am an interstellar talent scout of the Castor Moving Group Network. You may call me Glorbalorbl. My home is in the Zubenelgenubi system, a multi-star neighborhood which lies conveniently close to your home system's ecliptic plane. As a result of this geometric convenience, us Zubenelgenubians have long been capable of analyzing your home planet using techniques like the TTV method familiar to you, and we are even fully capable of direct spectroscopic analysis of your atmosphere, but even if we were limited to your primitive methods, or limited to one star system, we would still have known about your biosphere since long before your particular species showed up on the scene, because we are a much older civilization that has migrated into the area from elsewhere in the galaxy.
We have occasionally glanced your way in curiosity since before the first campfires began dotting the dark side of your planet. Upon observing your behaviors as you developed your unique identity among the lifeforms of your world, we quickly knew that you showed a lot of promise, but also possessed many problematic qualities. As for these troublesome characteristics, you seemed apparently unable or unwilling to recognize and remedy them in as timely of a manner as we have come to expect from most species that we consider to be developing toward true intelligence.
We have long wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt, noting that your home planet is as dynamic as it is beautiful. The challenges faced by the evolution of life on your world presented you with many harsh realities and many long threads of intergenerational trauma. We get it, you grew up in a tough neighborhood. You did not have the benefit of growing up slowly on a fully-stable paradise planet orbiting neatly in a flare-free band of space around a fully-convective star with an extremely long main- sequence lifespan, like my species originally did... or, in fact, like most of the intelligent species in the galaxy did.
Nonetheless, it was frustrating enough watching the constant setbacks that resulted from your stubbornly persistent myopia that we decided to stop paying much attention to what was going on over here. The last time anyone in our network took a serious peek must have been a few hundred Earth orbits ago. Upon reflection, I must say this appears to have been a significant oversight on our behalf, as you have experienced a surprising amount of change in that time interval.
During a normal shift break on a routine research mission through the local void, my colleagues and I were recreationally surfing the plasma veil on the edge of your Sun's magnetic field when we happened upon a small craft of yours containing some cute cartoons and a record that appears to be titled "THE SOUNDS OF EARTH THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA PLANET EARTH" - as lovers of music and recording arts ourselves, we immediately threw that shit onto the decks and put the needle down. While the sound was a little bit primitive and mostly contained what seemed to our sensibilities like under -produced source material captured from a single linear timeline, we had to admit it had some pretty good tracks on it. Even Greglorbalor the Horrible was delightedly clapping his digits at times.
As the resident talent scout on our mission, it was incumbent upon me to reach out to you. Our team quickly analyzed the current state of your common languages and colloquialisms, as well as the state of your science. Using that information I was able to write you this message, and even select a few anthems of my alien nation to share with you, which I hope you will enjoy. My home system, after all, is renowned for pumping out the phattest beats in the Orion Arm.
Now, to get more serious. Some of the things I say may feel to you like harsh criticisms, but I want you to keep in mind that if I didn't see potential in you, I would not bother to send you this message. With that in mind, there are some things I would like you to consider. In order to apply for galactic citizenship and be liberated from your current state of quarantined containment, you are going to need to meet the following requirements:
1) You must cease your habitual engagement in avoidable conflict. This includes conflict within your own species as well as conflict between your civilization and its environment. Amongst nearly all enlightened interstellar civilizations, this is the primary measure by which the relative intelligence of a life form is established. Any civilization with a tendency toward violence, duplicity, sabotage, and ill -will is simply not considered mature enough to populate beyond their native star system. As long as you avoid making the breathtakingly obvious decision to work in harmony with the world you are a part of, then I must woefully inform you that you and your music will not be welcome at any of our public parks, or on any of our relativistic highways, or in any of our universally-acclaimed utopian garden- metropolis sanctuaries, or at any of our Galactic Music Awards ceremonies.
2) You must eliminate poverty. Mismanagement of resources is generally considered a bad sign when analyzing the inhabitants of any world. By our standards, as long as any one member of your civilization is involuntarily unable to meet their basic needs, including access to food, shelter, information, and care, the title of "intelligent" will continue to elude your species.
3) You must transmit a new collection of your best music in the direction of my home system, the star system you know as Alpha Librae, from between the longitude you call 100°W and 110°W, at the time you call 12:08 AM, on the date you call June 21, 2038. I repeat: new mixtape, right ascension 14h 52m 07.6s, declination 16°08'06.0", at the moment of the solstice closest to your aphelion, sixteen orbits from the time of this message, and from the part of your planet facing most directly away from your Sun at the time. This isn't an intelligence test like the other two items I have listed, I simply want a more up-to- date demo from you. We will have a receiver/transmitter in position to then distribute your message rapidly to the Zubenelgenubi system and, from there, to my colleagues in the Castor Moving Group Network.
To put it lightly, a good demo is a great first step toward building your rapport with the rest of us, and would make your application for galactic citizenship much more likely to be approved. If your demo is good, and you've met the other two requirements I mentioned, then we might be able to finally invite you to the party. If your application is indeed approved, you will then have access to the collective knowledge of the various networks tangling their way around the Milky Way. That includes an abundance of helpful information about travel, communication, computation, longevity, and spacetime itself, to name a few points of interest.
Innovation/space biz-saga that combines all the best elements of Isaacson's multi-subject The Innovators, Eric Berger's immersive start-up exploration of SpaceX with Liftoff, Vance's previous great biography of Musk*, and a hint of Michael Lewis' great Wall Street thrillers. This work thankfully minimizes discussion of Musk any more than necessary in framing the story of the other space start-ups.
*I reserve the right to simultaneously think Vance's 2015 Musk bio is great, and be completely exhausted/done with current-era Musk.
I have never really understood the fascination with space. To be honest, I am more fascinated with the unexplored depths of the oceans and human biology. While this book did offer some fascinating perspectives about space that I had not considered, it was very long and very boring. Because of it’s length and organization style, I often found myself mixing up people’s names and companies and daydreaming while reading. Overall, while informative, the book was not very engaging or enjoyable.
Pros: 1. pretty much omits all the best known (but not always fruitful) stories of big brands - like Blue Origin or Virgin Galactic; instead, focuses on smaller, less known businesses that are in fact much more successful - like RocketLab or Astra 2. Vance doesn't re-utilize stuff read/heard from others,he did reach out to all these companies (& people) directly, so then he could relate things as a direct observer - there's definitely unique value here, thanks to that
Cons: 1. Interesting businesses do not have to make exciting stories - the further, the worse (more repetitive, less surprising/involving) it got. In fact, the space race is not that fascinating: "rocket science" is not that complicated - what really makes a difference is rigorous engineering based on hundreds of subsequent experiments, powered with tons of data & all the learnings learned on the way. That doesn't make very good material. 2. It surprised me that the author didn't spend much time/paper diving deeper into space-related opportunities - I think there's much more there than it was covered (incl. access to minerals/rare substances). 3. I think it'd add some dramaturgy to the lecture if the author had changed the book's composition. Now each chapter focuses on a specific company, but it'd probably be better to go chronologically and jump between the competing parties as much as possible.
In the end, I rate it solid 3.1-3.2 stars, but I expected way more ;(
Let’s talk about what this book is not. It is not a sober look at where the privatization of space is taking us, or even a particularly hard-hitting form of journalism about what this all means. This book is essentially four character profiles, and on that level it (mostly) succeeds admirably. Vance’s access is remarkable, and at its best this book reminded me of Michael Lewis in the way it incisively shows us who these people that are defying gravity are. It’s also terrifically exciting from a pure science perspective and eloquently explains to this layperson some of the complicated problems of rocket science. There are some regrettable choices here about essentially reprinting PR statements from these people that really impact my perspective about Vance’s journalistic independence, but on the whole I was fascinated and thrilled by this. A heavily-caveated recommendation.
Finally another five-star book, although this book will have appeal only to those in the space industry. But for those who are - my god this was a true gem. In short, this is the summary of the *New Space* era that's been kickstarted by SpaceX, and an intimate journalistic journey into Planet (Labs), Rocket Lab, Astra, and Firefly Aerospace. As the new goliaths into the industry, I've known many people who works in (and sometimes leads) these organizations but never had such an in-depth look into their behind stories. One word summary of the book is: grit. There's a reason rocket science is insanely difficult and it takes a certain character to push over existing mammoths and succeed in something new where the margin for success is so thin and unforgiving. I truly loved every bit of this book, and the fact that this came out in May 2023 (I am now reading it in July 2023) means this was perhaps the best read I could've done for this year. For anyone else in the space industry, you NEED to get a hold of this book somehow and read it in the next 6 months. You'll thank me later.
P.S. I love how SGAC was literally quoted five or more times in the book (especially in the Planet Labs portion) and described as a "space hippies" organization.
Honestly, this should probably be called "Space Assholes" because really none of the men in this book are people I have any interest in spending time with. I was hoping for more about the companies themselves and less about the men (money) behind them and I also could have done with all the grumbling about government bureaucracy given the absolutely ridiculous and dangerous stunts. The other problem is that the writing is lazy...whole pages are just a transcription of conversations. While there are a few times that is a good way to get a sense of a person and how they behave, it really veers into just a lack of effort by Vance. Giving a generous 2.5 stars rounded up.
Jaunty stroll through the colorful characters and amazing companies in the private space industry (excepting SpaceX). Amazing there hasn't been more written on this subject (maybe similar work has just escaped my noticed). I strongly recommend.
I’ve had very little interest in space but I read this on a recommendation of someone who’s obsessed with it and I’m glad I did. The writing is phenomenal and the stories are fascinating. I have a much deeper appreciation for what these companies are doing both from a scientific and engineering standpoint, and political.
What’s most interesting is to get to learn about a new emerging technological field basically AS it’s unfolding. I software and personal computers, the early land grabs and monopolies are behind us and now we’re nickel and diming minor innovations. But in this book, Vance describes in such detail how challenging it is to innovate in an area where our technological advances have stalled for a few decades. I don’t want to pick sides on whether private or public funding is better fo innovation but after reading this, I have no doubt we’re better off for the private sector taking the mantle away from NASA.
I also appreciated seeing the characteristics of several founders that have to lead in an environment where faith has to reign over reality not for months but YEARS. You can appreciate the style of leadership and devotion needed in this environment probably requires a level of grit and determinism I’ve never experienced in software. It’s a brutal industry full of amazingly smart people and yet success is near impossible.
My only reason for 4 rather than 5 was the imbalances chapters on Astra. I realize that section was longer due to Vance getting to write about them live but ultimately they outweighed more substantive parts of the book. It could’ve been cut in half and been much more effective rather than belaboring their myriad failures and fundraising quirks rather than the innovation attention that previous chapters got.
"When the Heavens Went on Sale" was not the book I expected it to be - perhaps not surprising since I, being familiar with Vance and loving the title, hadn't bothered with the blurb before starting the book. Instead of taking the easy route and focusing on the "big boys" of private space ventures, Vance chose to profile some of the smaller fry. So this is a book primarily dealing with Astra, Firefly, Planet Labs, and Rocket Lab.
It is really good!
First off, the author tells a great story. No, really, he could likely spin a tale about a rock in a pond and it'd be engaging. Here he chose the private company rush to conquer space, there are worse stories. The book is structured into four main blocks, one each for the featured companies, and it's a fantastic structure for highlighting just how diametrically different they and their founders and leaders often are. Each company profile would be well worth a read on its own. There is a lot of value in this book, even if it might be a bit long for some.
Sprinkle in a unhealthy dose of "patriotic" safety think on behalf of the U.S. (that does not come away from this book looking particularly good, quite the opposite), money-grab shadiness, the sheer hubris of a lot of the people in the story, and there's drama enough to last for weeks. And the result is a flat-out fun, illuminating, and informative read. I mean, who doesn't like a good sale, right!?
"When the Heavens Went on Sale," I highly recommend it!
The space reading continues <3 With a bit of a different theme this time. Think billionaires, big wins and bigger mistakes, and the future literally happening in front of our eyes. I’m not sure what I think about it all yet, but I sure do like reading about it.
Happened into this one as my roommate’s dad works for Rocket Lab, one of the companies talked about in this book. And what a journey it was.
This was really, really good. This was a really cool inside look at the space industry and how some companies like Planet Labs and Rocket Lab got their start and got to where they are now. Vance's writing and use of direct quotes from the subjects made the stories spin real in my mind, even though yes they are all real people. This was an amazing inside look at 4 companies trying to spearhead the new space race, diving through their successes and failures in a personal way. I recommend this for any fans of space, especially those looking for some hope for a little diversity beyond Musk in space.
Super exciting - definitely not a business book, but a story of people who are odd, exciting, and a little crazy but supremely human, chasing something that will have a meaningful impact on the world, in a way that probably only americas modern tech scene could do at its best.
I found this absolutely fascinating. Trying to follow theses companies in bits and pieces as news articles enter my feed leaves a lot to be desired. This book added tons of background and context. It’s foremost a biography of multiple individuals. It is also a recent history of a handful of recent aerospace startups which is what I was most interested in.
I am an interstellar talent scout of the Castor Moving Group Network. You may call me Glorbalorbl. My home is in the Zubenelgenubi system, a multi-star neighborhood which lies conveniently close to your home system's ecliptic plane. As a result of this geometric convenience, us Zubenelgenubians have long been capable of analyzing your home planet using techniques like the TTV method familiar to you, and we are even fully capable of direct spectroscopic analysis of your atmosphere, but even if we were limited to your primitive methods, or limited to one star system, we would still have known about your biosphere since long before your particular species showed up on the scene, because we are a much older civilization that has migrated into the area from elsewhere in the galaxy.
We have occasionally glanced your way in curiosity since before the first campfires began dotting the dark side of your planet. Upon observing your behaviors as you developed your unique identity among the lifeforms of your world, we quickly knew that you showed a lot of promise, but also possessed many problematic qualities. As for these troublesome characteristics, you seemed apparently unable or unwilling to recognize and remedy them in as timely of a manner as we have come to expect from most species that we consider to be developing toward true intelligence.
We have long wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt, noting that your home planet is as dynamic as it is beautiful. The challenges faced by the evolution of life on your world presented you with many harsh realities and many long threads of intergenerational trauma. We get it, you grew up in a tough neighborhood. You did not have the benefit of growing up slowly on a fully-stable paradise planet orbiting neatly in a flare-free band of space around a fully-convective star with an extremely long main- sequence lifespan, like my species originally did... or, in fact, like most of the intelligent species in the galaxy did.
Nonetheless, it was frustrating enough watching the constant setbacks that resulted from your stubbornly persistent myopia that we decided to stop paying much attention to what was going on over here. The last time anyone in our network took a serious peek must have been a few hundred Earth orbits ago. Upon reflection, I must say this appears to have been a significant oversight on our behalf, as you have experienced a surprising amount of change in that time interval.
During a normal shift break on a routine research mission through the local void, my colleagues and I were recreationally surfing the plasma veil on the edge of your Sun's magnetic field when we happened upon a small craft of yours containing some cute cartoons and a record that appears to be titled "THE SOUNDS OF EARTH THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA PLANET EARTH" - as lovers of music and recording arts ourselves, we immediately threw that shit onto the decks and put the needle down. While the sound was a little bit primitive and mostly contained what seemed to our sensibilities like under -produced source material captured from a single linear timeline, we had to admit it had some pretty good tracks on it. Even Greglorbalor the Horrible was delightedly clapping his digits at times.
As the resident talent scout on our mission, it was incumbent upon me to reach out to you. Our team quickly analyzed the current state of your common languages and colloquialisms, as well as the state of your science. Using that information I was able to write you this message, and even select a few anthems of my alien nation to share with you, which I hope you will enjoy. My home system, after all, is renowned for pumping out the phattest beats in the Orion Arm.
Now, to get more serious. Some of the things I say may feel to you like harsh criticisms, but I want you to keep in mind that if I didn't see potential in you, I would not bother to send you this message. With that in mind, there are some things I would like you to consider. In order to apply for galactic citizenship and be liberated from your current state of quarantined containment, you are going to need to meet the following requirements:
1) You must cease your habitual engagement in avoidable conflict. This includes conflict within your own species as well as conflict between your civilization and its environment. Amongst nearly all enlightened interstellar civilizations, this is the primary measure by which the relative intelligence of a life form is established. Any civilization with a tendency toward violence, duplicity, sabotage, and ill -will is simply not considered mature enough to populate beyond their native star system. As long as you avoid making the breathtakingly obvious decision to work in harmony with the world you are a part of, then I must woefully inform you that you and your music will not be welcome at any of our public parks, or on any of our relativistic highways, or in any of our universally-acclaimed utopian garden- metropolis sanctuaries, or at any of our Galactic Music Awards ceremonies.
2) You must eliminate poverty. Mismanagement of resources is generally considered a bad sign when analyzing the inhabitants of any world. By our standards, as long as any one member of your civilization is involuntarily unable to meet their basic needs, including access to food, shelter, information, and care, the title of "intelligent" will continue to elude your species.
3) You must transmit a new collection of your best music in the direction of my home system, the star system you know as Alpha Librae, from between the longitude you call 100°W and 110°W, at the time you call 12:08 AM, on the date you call June 21, 2038. I repeat: new mixtape, right ascension 14h 52m 07.6s, declination 16°08'06.0", at the moment of the solstice closest to your aphelion, sixteen orbits from the time of this message, and from the part of your planet facing most directly away from your Sun at the time. This isn't an intelligence test like the other two items I have listed, I simply want a more up-to- date demo from you. We will have a receiver/transmitter in position to then distribute your message rapidly to the Zubenelgenubi system and, from there, to my colleagues in the Castor Moving Group Network.
To put it lightly, a good demo is a great first step toward building your rapport with the rest of us, and would make your application for galactic citizenship much more likely to be approved. If your demo is good, and you've met the other two requirements I mentioned, then we might be able to finally invite you to the party. If your application is indeed approved, you will then have access to the collective knowledge of the various networks tangling their way around the Milky Way. That includes an abundance of helpful information about travel, communication, computation, longevity, and spacetime itself, to name a few points of interest.
This book might have been glued to my hands because I could not put it down. It revolves around a few of the next generation of space focused companies, their founders, the inception of the idea, the philosophical approach each company has, the hurdles they end up facing, the brutal failures and the burn rate of billions of dollars these companies spend trying to send rockets into space. I don't think this era would have been as successful if interest rates weren't at 0% due to the levels of cash these companies burn without showing anyway to be profitable. The book goes through numerous profiles of the founders who are often bombastic, talented, hard working and driven to an unbelievable degree. This book is also a revelation between the old guard and the new guard. All of these founders were fed up with traditional space programs who they thought died in bureaucracy like NASA. So they basically said, "Fuck it, will do it without them". The old guard tended to look down at the younger generation, claiming their ideas would never work but due to advances in computing, cloud technology and machine learning. A lot of these companies were able to pull off miraculous achievements. Effectively putting down everyones criticisms.
Imagine starting a rocket company? Who takes you seriously? The answer is no one. The book follows all of these upstarts and idealistic engineers from day one to rocket launch for a few companies. It is without a doubt inspiring, to see some of these employees at companies come up with novel approaches that no one has ever done and be able to experience success is something that is just fucking cool. With interest rates and inflation ravaging the global economy, it will be difficult to figure out how these companies would survive especially if they need a lot longer to be profitable. An exciting time for space nerds for sure. The book is 5 stars for me but then again reader, I am heavily biased to anything that has to do with space, tech and entrepreneur's. Keep that in mind if you add this to your list.
“When the Heavens Went on Sale” is a captivating and insightful account of the new space race, featuring four ambitious and innovative companies that are challenging the established players in the aerospace industry. Ashlee Vance, the author of the best-selling biography of Elon Musk, takes us on a thrilling journey behind the scenes of these startups, revealing their struggles, successes, and visions for the future.
The book focuses on Astra, Firefly, Planet Labs, and Rocket Lab, four companies that share a common goal: to make space more accessible and affordable for everyone. Each company has its own unique approach and niche in the market, from launching thousands of low-cost satellites to exploring the Moon and beyond. Vance introduces us to the founders, engineers, and investors who are driving this revolution, and shows us how they overcome technical, financial, and regulatory challenges along the way.
Vance also explores the broader implications of this new space era, both for humanity and for the planet. He examines the potential benefits and risks of opening up space to more players, such as democratizing access to information, fostering innovation and entrepreneurship, creating new industries and jobs, but also increasing orbital debris, disrupting astronomy, and sparking geopolitical conflicts. He also raises some ethical and philosophical questions about our relationship with space, such as what it means to be a spacefaring civilization, who owns and governs space, and what are our responsibilities towards other life forms.
“When the Heavens Went on Sale” is a fascinating and inspiring book that will appeal to anyone who is curious about the future of space exploration and development. Vance writes with clarity, humor, and passion, bringing to life the stories of these visionary entrepreneurs and their daring ventures. He also provides a balanced and nuanced perspective on the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead for humanity in space.
A very interesting and comprehensive (read: very long) journalistic profile of four lower profile (read: not founded by Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk) consumer space companies that have arisen in the last ~10-20 years and have had varying fortunes:
1. Planet Labs - founded in 2010 in the US by Chris Boshuizen, Will Marshall, and Robbie Schingler; public; still operating 2. Rocket Lab - founded in 2006 in New Zealand by Peter Beck; public; still operating 3. Astra - founded in 2016 in the US by Chris Kemp and Adam London; public; still operating 4. Firefly - founded in 2016 in the US by Max Polyakov and Tom Markusic; private; still operating
Vance spent years researching this book including months spent interviewing key players at these four companies (and others), and traveling around the globe to witness launches, successes, and failures. His writing is engaging and accessible, though I thought he relied on direct quotations from some of his more colorful subjects a bit too much.
Further reading: The Space Barons: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the Quest to Colonize the Cosmos by Christian Davenport (2018) Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger (2021)
Een boek over de (bestuurs) leden van bedrijven die raketten lanceren voor wetenschappelijke en of private doeleinden , over de problemen en successen, van deze bij momenten bizarre bedrijfstak, ….. het boek was behoorlijk lijvig 500blz wat soms wat veel is voor ongeduldige lezers , ik heb het het in verschillende stukken gelezen 1-150. 450-500 en wat heen en weer …..de raket bouwers en lanceringen zijn vaak ook wat ongeduldige en eigenaardige persoonlijkheden , ….. het boek deed me ook wat nadenken het gaat ook voor een behoorlijk stuk over geld , ( ik weet niet of er ooit geld gelanceerd is geweest in de ruimte ). Maar veel wordt daarin uit/gedrukt of geprint ofzo , En ik vroeg me af …. Er is buitenaardse technologie gevonden …. Een soort apparaat dat alles kan samenstellen wat er is het trekt alle benodigde atomen aan voegt ze samen en/of scheidt ze en alles wat men kan bedenken komt eruit , goud , soep, raket , ook levende bouwstenen …., kan alle atomen omvormen , ……. Hoeveel is dit apparaat waard ? 4 sterren een boek over de toch enigszins gekke wereld van de raket industrie ,
Meticulously researched, and told through a journalistic lens, what could have been a very dense book about rocket science was in fact very accessible and readable.
I would say that by the 400th page, a man (and it was almost always men) boasting about how many 7-day, 20 hour weeks they were working to put a rocket into space wore thin. Quite how many of these self-professed geniuses have abandoned their families for their fairly selfish pursuits is astounding. If nothing else, it told me that I definitely wouldn't have the motivation to be a rocket scientist...
Vance is less critical at times, than generally observational - as a journalist I'd have hoped for more critiques or analysis from him; I wonder how much of his future access to Astra etc would have been limited if in this book he broke down much of what he parrots.
I think a must read for anyone that is interested in space technology and rockets. SpaceX has been frontrunner for the last 15 years or so, but they are just the first surfer on the wave of New Space. This novel gives a personal insight about the people and characters that aim their dreams, desires and actions into rocketry. Planet Lab, Rocket Lab, Firefly, SpaceX, and Astra walk the way of using millions of money and brilliant people to launch a rocket and build constellations in space fueling the LEO satellite hunger. The details in the book around the characters of Kemp, Worden, Bek, Polyakov and others is amazing, sometimes even a bit too extensive. But I enjoyed this a lot, 5 stars
I was initially skeptical about a book on New Space that didn’t focus on SpaceX, but it turned out to be addictive, funny, and packed with insights. It gave me a whole new perspective on the companies shaping the future of space and the eccentric characters (which seem to be a necessary for such companies to be built)
It’s a must-read for anyone looking to understand how space is now open for business. For a more complete picture of New Space, I’d recommend pairing this book with Elon Musk’s biography or anything about SpaceX
The book highlights lesser-known entities like RocketLab, Planet Labs, Astra and Firefly. However, it falls short of delving into the scientific intricacies and future potentials, offering only a superficial narrative centered on a few key figures. The storytelling becomes particularly lackluster as it evolves into a simplistic dichotomy of Russia versus the USA. For newcomers, it might offer a basic overview, but for those familiar with the subject, it may not be worth the time.
I loved the book so much that I started re-reading it immediately after finishing! Just wanted to jump back into the craziness of space startups and re-live it again. If you're into the space industry, especially the currently unfolding gold rush, you are advised not to miss this book under any conditions.
Great look at the New Space industry. While everyone expects lift companies (makers of boosters), and it does cover two of them (Rocket Lab, Astra), it also covers a satellite service (Planet Labs), and how NASA's Ames flight research center became an incubator for New Space for a while. The list of who is who from New Space that worked there in that time period is legion.
Good read for those wanting to try to get an understanding of the space industry today and how different it is from the paradigm that existed from the 1960s to 2008 or so.