Episode 167 - Bechtold (with Eric Berger)Off-Nominal19 Sept 2024Jake and Anthony are joined by Eric Berger, Senior Space Editor at Ars Technica and author of Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX, to talk about his newest book, Reentry: SpaceX, Elon Musk, and the Reusable Rockets that Launched a Second Space Age.Find us at https://offnom.comFind Anthony Colangelo at https://mainenginecutoff.com/Find Jake Robins at / jakeonorbit Find Eric Berger at / sciguyspace
#103 Eric Berger on his new book 'Reentry: SpaceX, Elon Musk, and Reusable RocketsThe Astro Ben Podcast12 Aug 2024(Episode first aired 8th August 2024 - audio only) In this episode, Ben sits down (again) with Eric Berger, Senior Space Editor at Ars Technica and author of the upcoming book 'Reentry: SpaceX, Elon Musk, and the Reusable Rockets that Launched a Second Space Age'They discuss the Polaris Dawn mission, the state of the space industry, NASA's Crew-9 launch delay, and the latest breaking stories in the space industry. Eric shares his thoughts on Elon Musk's current focus and vision at SpaceX, as well as the critical role billionaires are playing in space exploration. Subjects Discussed:Interviewing NASA administratorStarliner date pushed backPolaris DawnWhy is it significant?Billionaires in SpaceNEW BOOK: “Reentry: SpaceX, Elon Musk, and the Reusable Rockets that Launched a Second Space Age”The Technical Challenges of SpaceX 2008-2020Importance of Gwynne ShotwellSignificance of Falcon HeavyThe emotion of launchesArtemisChinaNew GlennFirst mover advantage for reusable rocket companies?Stoke SpaceSpaceXVision of SpaceXElon and politicsElon’s Musks Plans too ambitious?
If you enjoyed Liftoff, Reentry carries the story of SpaceX forward over the next decade. What surprised me, as I reported this book, is how scrappy the company remained through much of the 2010s. The money was always tight. The pressure was always intense.
I worked really hard to write a compelling and engaging story, to put readers in the middle of the action. There are so many wild stories here. This one, set in late 2009 while driving the first Falcon 9 from Texas to Florida, is one of my favorites:
I just read a terrific new book called "Reentry" by @SciGuySpace about SpaceX's ascent from fledgling startup to the top of the space industry.I also wrote a review about it in the @nypost Link below:
An excerpt from Reentry: Inside the room where NASA officials made the fateful decision on commercial crew a decade ago.
Quote from: Hyperborealis on 08/26/2024 11:50 am[Blackstar] is making the much more tendentious claim without evidence given that Berger suppreses the bad stories he knows about SpaceX to maintain journalistic access with the company. I don't think this is entirely without evidence. As one relevant example, Berger himself has said that he is not going to say anything about the Falcon 9 full-reuse program. Now, whether or not you would call SpaceX's decision to cancel this project a "failure" (personally I wouldn't), it is a failure for the F9 reuse project - which is what the book is about. Instead of recognising it's relevance, Berger has called it a "loose end."Quote from: FutureSpaceTourist on 02/14/2024 05:58 amQuoteI hope you wrote something about the designs for full reuse on Falcon…https://twitter.com/sciguyspace/status/1757619552190431707QuoteAlas, I must say I did not. There were about 10 million different loose ends I could have written about. As it is, the book is already quite long, more than 110,000 words.Perhaps this is just a minor omission, but similarly minor-but-relevant omissions seem to appear often in Berger's work, and very frequently they favour SpaceX.Regardless, I'm sure this will be a great read filled with many interesting details I did not know about Falcon and SpaceX. Berger is good at writing!
[Blackstar] is making the much more tendentious claim without evidence given that Berger suppreses the bad stories he knows about SpaceX to maintain journalistic access with the company.
QuoteI hope you wrote something about the designs for full reuse on Falcon…https://twitter.com/sciguyspace/status/1757619552190431707QuoteAlas, I must say I did not. There were about 10 million different loose ends I could have written about. As it is, the book is already quite long, more than 110,000 words.
I hope you wrote something about the designs for full reuse on Falcon…
Alas, I must say I did not. There were about 10 million different loose ends I could have written about. As it is, the book is already quite long, more than 110,000 words.
Quote from: Blackstar on 09/06/2024 02:23 amQuote from: Comga on 09/05/2024 11:44 pmSo what?I loved Dorothy Kearns Goodwin’s biography of Lincoln, and learned a lot from it, but she makes absolutely no pretense of being objective. It’s still a great, informative, and moving book.So we are both agreeing that he is biased and not objective.What an angry and kind of pointless distinction to make. As though bias and objectivity are entirely separate things, black and white, and people go exclusively in buckets. Just say you dislike his perspective on things and think he gets some things wrong. This "agree he is biased" business is childish.
Quote from: Comga on 09/05/2024 11:44 pmSo what?I loved Dorothy Kearns Goodwin’s biography of Lincoln, and learned a lot from it, but she makes absolutely no pretense of being objective. It’s still a great, informative, and moving book.So we are both agreeing that he is biased and not objective.
So what?I loved Dorothy Kearns Goodwin’s biography of Lincoln, and learned a lot from it, but she makes absolutely no pretense of being objective. It’s still a great, informative, and moving book.
Q: What do you respond to comments that say you have pro SpaceX bias?Eric Berger: I would say, hell yes I'm biased. I'm biased toward progress. I just missed the Apollo landings as a kid (born in 1973) and I would like to see humans get out there and explore and settle the Solar System, and beyond. Looking at the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, we didn't go very far or fast. I chalk that up to a couple of things, including a lack of geopolitical need for deep space exploration, and large contractors doing only what the government asked and seeking to maximize profits over progress. I've been a critic of the SLS rocket because it exemplifies the way of doing things that is so slow, and so expensive, that you never really get anywhere.What excites me about commercial space is that you've got entrepreneurs and private capital seeking to do interesting things in space that could push humanity out there. A company like Astro Forge may well fail, but they're giving asteroid-mining-on-the-cheap a go. Intuitive Machines is landing on the Moon. Astrolab is trying to build autonomous lunar rovers. I'm biased toward these new and innovative approaches to spaceflight. And yes, I'm biased toward SpaceX, because they are the greatest exemplar of progress in spaceflight in the 21st century. As a thought exercise, imagine what the US spaceflight enterprise looks like today if the fourth flight of the Falcon 1 fails, and SpaceX goes under. It's kind of scary.
With that said, Blackstar has a point. Having done a great deal of interviewing with people at NASA and SpaceX, working to keep your sources willing to talk with you is a real-world thing that all authors and researchers have to deal with. There are places where I wanted Berger to ask of his interviewees, "wasn't that thing you did absolutely nuts/dangerous/counter-productive?" You do get a good sense of where things either went off the rails or were in real danger of doing so. It's not a sin to split the difference.
I disagree. Yes, SpaceX has succeeded. How much was skill and how much luck? The experts are usually right, which is why we regard them as experts. "All the experts will say that I am asking the impossible - but I tell you we can do it" -- that generally does not end well.
Two-thirds through and I have read with great interest all the stories about crises and near-disasters. Really brings it home how it takes real human beings stressed witless and suffering immensely to accomplish great things. Unfortunately I have to say that I miss a lot of technical info about the groundbreaking actual work that it took to make the wonder that is Falcon 9. The technical side is very reduced and very dumbed-down. Berger clearly aimed at a general audience, hoping for big sales, but I think he shouldn't think so little of the capacity for understanding (and being fascinated by) technical stuff by the general reader.There is basically nothing about Blackmore's guidance work, nothing about the landing legs, not much about the intricacies of Merlin development. I really bought the book hoping for that. Instead there is a lot, really a lot, about people working long days and burning out. It gets a bit samey after a while. Clearly Berger had a lot of access to those SpaceX'ers. I guess the present-day staff is too busy building rockets.Maybe Berger just understands his audience better, but I think we deserve much more info about what actually makes Falcon 9 great, and why it has broken old paradigms so effectively.
Had an unforgettable night with some of the key people in Reentry this weekend. Thanks to @lrocket for hosting a terrific party.
