How To Make A Spaceship

[CameronD]

This book caught my eye during a wander through our local bookshop.  From the foreword by Richard Branson to the afterword by Stephen Hawking, upon starting to read it found it difficult to put down.

https://www.amazon.com/How-Make-Spaceship-Renegades-Spaceflight/dp/1594206724

I was expecting it to be all about SpaceShipOne - but more than half the book is spent tying together the life stories of people I knew something about like John Carmack, Elon Musk, Burt Rutan and Richard Branson with those I didn't, like Peter Diamandis, Erik Lindbergh, Paul Allen and Steve Bennett and many others.

As someone living on the far side of the planet whose primary source of commercial spaceflight info in the early days was an occasional headline news article, Armadillo's blog and the occasional email conversation with Clark Lindsay of Hobbyspace.com, I had no idea of the back-story and how interconnected all these folks were!

For anyone interested in filling in a few gaps in their history (especially those living outside the USA for whom information like this is scarce), I'd highly recommend getting a copy and reading it for yourself.


(Mods:  If this post is in the wrong place, please feel free to move it)

[CameronD]

The quote of the book:

"You need herbs and spices!" Burt said. "You can't just use body putty for thermal protection on a spaceship. Thermal protection has to be high tech! It has to be a proprietary recipe. Get some herbs and spices."  --  (pg 323)

 
LOL