When the Heavens Went on SaleThe Misfits and Geniuses Racing to Put Space Within ReachBy Ashlee VanceOn Sale: May 9, 2023A momentous look at the private companies driving a revolutionary new economy in space, from the New York Times bestselling author of Elon MuskWith the launch of the Falcon 1 rocket in 2008, Elon Musk’s SpaceX became the first private company to build a low-cost rocket that could reach orbit. And that milestone carried major implications: Silicon Valley, not NASA or nation states, was suddenly cemented as the epicenter of the new Space Age. Start-ups and the wealthy investors behind them began to realize that the universe—ungoverned and infinite—was open for business. Welcome to the Wild West of aerospace engineering.When the Heavens Went on Sale tells the remarkable, unfolding story of this frenzied intergalactic land grab. Through his trademark immersive reporting, Ashlee Vance follows 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. While the public fixated on the space tourism being driven by Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Richard Branson, these new 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—and setting it up as the next playing field for humankind’s technological evolution, where we can connect, analyze, and monitor everything on Earth.Vance has had a front-row seat and singular access to this peculiar and unprecedented moment in history. When the Heavens Went on Sale travels through private company headquarters, labs, and top-secret launch locations around the world, including California, Texas, Alaska, New Zealand, Ukraine, India, and French Guiana. He chronicles it all in full color: the private jets, communes, gun-toting bodyguards, drugs, espionage investigations, and multimillionaires guzzling booze to dull the pain as their fortunes disappear.With the most detailed and intimate reporting of Vance’s career, 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 most pressing and controversial technology story of our time, a tale of fascinating characters chasing unimaginable stakes as they race to space.
Oh, hello. New book cover is alive and out in the world. https://www.amazon.com/When-Heavens-Went-Sale-Geniuses/dp/0062998870/
My new book is up and available for pre-order. This sucker has five years of reporting and will take you on a journey around the world. It's equal parts funny, harrowing and inspiring, and, I think, marks a seminal moment in our shared human history. amazon.com/When-Heavens-W…
Planet is a pretty incredible space company with a neat back story. It is told well in @ashleevance's new book. (full review coming but tl;dr is, as the British say, "ace.")
"Cash on Fire" is an apt description for the small launch industry revealed in brutal and glorious detail by @ashleevance.
Vance wades into the wild, wild west of space industry startups and provides a front row seat for the madness, and occasional success, in this new industry. The profiles of Astra and Firefly are especially vivid, and not always in flattering ways.
The small launch industry is brutal—yes, even more than you thought"He must be out of money by now, surely?"by Eric Berger - Mar 6, 2023 5:58pm GMT
I can highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in space, especially if you want to know how space startups work behind the public promises and marketing. The book provides real insight into these companies and the people who toil in them.
Little snippet from Prologue of me new book that I think explains a lot of what has happened the last few years in commercial space https://www.amazon.com/When-Heavens-Went-Sale-Geniuses/dp/0062998870/
In more symbolic terms, the SpaceX engineers shattered the natural order of things. While not at all clear back in 2008, that first launch into orbit would emerge as an inciting incident. Like Roger Bannister besting the four-minute mile, SpaceX made people recalibrate their sense of limitation when it came to getting to space. The imaginations and passions of engineers and dreamers all around the world expanded. A turning point had occurred, and a space frenzy had been ignited.
And here it is. At long, long last
A reminder of just how far @SpaceX has come from the prologue of my new book "When The Heavens Went on Sale" (signed copies available at ashleevance.com)
A 🧵tied to my new book - "When The Heavens Went on Sale" - https://amazon.com/When-Heavens-Went-Sale-Geniuses/dp/0062998870/In 2008, @SpaceX and @elonmusk launched the Falcon 1 rocket. It was a significant milestone at the time, but the full ramifications of that launch are only now becoming clear.
In the early 1900s, rockets were actually looking like commercial technology. Pioneers in the US, Germany and Russia were exploring rocket and eventually satellite designs. There were even rocket start-upsThey were set to be commercial projects much in the same vein of the large telescopes that had come before them. Rich people had paid for telescopes, and rockets and satellites were the next logical step.The World Wars that followed sent space in an unexpected direction. It became the stuff of nation states, of prestige, of nationalistic identity. It seemed that only large countries could pursue space.Rather shockingly, this ended up as the status quo for decades. As a result, aerospace technology languished. A handful of nations dominated and controlled space. Their machines became antiquated and their operations slow@SpaceX showed that a new reality might be possible and then the heavens opened upIn the first 60 years of the Space Age, we managed to put about 2,500 satellites into orbit. Over the past two years, we've doubled that number. It's going to double again and again in short order until we hit 100,000 or perhaps 200,000 or moreWe are building a computing shell around the Earth. This is the follow on to the great dot-com build out and will serve as our next technological infrastructure evolution. It will change how we understand and operate life here on EarthOne of the companies in my book - @planet - led this change in satellites. It made them cheap. It made them mass producible. It showed that you could manage hundreds of them at once. Most importantly, it brought Moore's Law and modern electronics to space.The launch cost revolution spurred by SpaceX and the satellite revolution spurred by Planet have turned space into a proper commercial enterprise. We are now trying to build a massive new economy in Low Earth Orbit.I would argue that the mainstream public has missed this moment and what it portends. And my book is an attempt to explain how we got here, what it means and what it looks like when Silicon Valley takes over space.No one knows if the space economy will live up to its billing. But it will be quite the show as we find out.
Come to the new book to find out about the time the FBI tried to figure out if Obama and @elonmusk, among others, were trying to destroy the US space program via NASA. (Your tax dollars at work/Life stranger than fiction) amazon.com/When-Heavens-W…
Still, things escalated quickly and dramatically from that point.A group of Ames employees handed Congress a fifty-five-page report that, according to Worden, suggested the existence of a far-reaching conspiracy to destroy the US space program. Not only were Worden and his buddies allegedly involved in the conspiracy, but so, too, were President Barack Obama, Elon Musk, and Lori Garver, the deputy administrator of NASA, who had been a major advocate of Space and private space exploration. Fueled by the document, the FBI kicked off an investigation that ended up taking four years and dragged Ames through the press as a bastion of spies.
I wrote in my own book about the orchestrated attempt to paint me, @elonmusk @POTUS44 & others as trying to destroy the US space program. Attacks on us came from such a wide range of directions I’d forgotten the Ames paper! FBI should have investigated those making the charges!
WT…Quote from: Ashlee Vance on TwitterCome to the new book to find out about the time the FBI tried to figure out if Obama and @elonmusk, among others, were trying to destroy the US space program via NASA. (Your tax dollars at work/Life stranger than fiction) amazon.com/When-Heavens-W…QuoteStill, things escalated quickly and dramatically from that point.A group of Ames employees handed Congress a fifty-five-page report that, according to Worden, suggested the existence of a far-reaching conspiracy to destroy the US space program. Not only were Worden and his buddies allegedly involved in the conspiracy, but so, too, were President Barack Obama, Elon Musk, and Lori Garver, the deputy administrator of NASA, who had been a major advocate of Space and private space exploration. Fueled by the document, the FBI kicked off an investigation that ended up taking four years and dragged Ames through the press as a bastion of spies.Edit to add:Quote from: Lori Garver on TwitterI wrote in my own book about the orchestrated attempt to paint me, @elonmusk @POTUS44 & others as trying to destroy the US space program. Attacks on us came from such a wide range of directions I’d forgotten the Ames paper! FBI should have investigated those making the charges!
Culture | Reach for the starsHow SpaceX set off a new race to commercialise spaceAshlee Vance charts the contest in “When the Heavens Went on Sale”May 3rd 2023When the Heavens Went on Sale. By Ashlee Vance. Ecco; 528 pages; $35. WH Allen; Ł25Kwajalein atoll is as close to the middle of nowhere as you can get. Some 3,000km (1,900 miles) from Papua New Guinea, and almost 4,000km from Honolulu, this tiny speck of land in the middle of the Pacific Ocean became, on September 28th 2008, the unlikely site of an improbable revolution.
for an insight into the people and culture driving the new space age, Mr Vance’s book is the place to start
Spot o personal news to accompany new book. I'm producing a documentary with @HBO that draws from the material in the new tome. Could not be more thrilled to have such a great partner and home for the film.
I had a fun chat with Ashlee Vance about Elon Musk (he did a book on him, and now I’m doing one), the wild entrepreneurs on the frontier of private space exploration, and what it will mean to have 100,000 satellites in orbit. @ashleevance @elonmusk
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Quote from: Blackstar on 06/03/2023 02:17 pm[Snip[That's awesome, I am going to have to read both of her books one of these days.
Quote from: Tomness on 06/03/2023 03:39 pmQuote from: Blackstar on 06/03/2023 02:17 pm[Snip[That's awesome, I am going to have to read both of her books one of these days.His* books are great. I liked Berger’s book about the Falcon 1 as well. Eccentric Orbits, about Iridium, is in a similar vein and probably essential reading for anyone hoping to understand the satellite industry, but the book itself seemed to drag on and on (being kind of repetitive) and I found myself playing it extra fast on Audible. Same is not true for Eric Berger’s book and either of Ashlee Vance’s books so far.* https://twitter.com/ashleevance/status/1657030222422630408?s=46
...I don't know what other companies there are in this industry besides Relativity Space. I find them rather puzzling. After achieving a mostly-successful test launch, they announced that they're going to stop launching for years and instead develop a bigger rocket. Almost all the other companies are talking about bigger rockets too, so there seems to be a consensus that small is out and bigger is better. But I don't know if that's a response to Rocket Lab's success, or if they just think that the small payload market doesn't have a future? (It could be both--Rocket Lab could keep a foot in small launches and try for larger ones as well.)I'd add that these are not the first small launchers to come along. There have been others, like LLV, Pegasus, and even before that Scout. You could argue that their problem was they were too expensive and new companies came along thinking they could do it cheaper. That's what innovation is, right? But it's an interesting question to ask why these companies are then leaving this segment of the market? Did the market change, were they wrong from the start, or is this a case of bootstrapping with something small to develop something bigger?
That'd have been a lot of launches (ignoring price elasticity now).
Quote from: JayWee on 06/03/2023 08:57 pmThat'd have been a lot of launches (ignoring price elasticity now).It would have been if those customers could afford a (more) dedicated launch. I think the key thing about Falcon (large) rideshares is to hugely lower the cost for individual cubesats, significantly expanding the market.Rocket Lab has done a number of rideshare missions too. Unlike SpaceX, I don’t think Rocket Lab prices are public? I imagine SpaceX economies of scale and re-use mean they could price smaller launchers out of the cheap(er) end of the market?
Halfway through Vance's book. It is a good read, but I must say I am more excited about Berger's F9 book. Purely because of the subject matter.
Quote from: Oersted on 06/04/2023 03:40 pmHalfway through Vance's book. It is a good read, but I must say I am more excited about Berger's F9 book. Purely because of the subject matter.Berger's F9 is online or paper book?
Quote from: FutureSpaceTourist on 06/04/2023 07:01 amQuote from: JayWee on 06/03/2023 08:57 pmThat'd have been a lot of launches (ignoring price elasticity now).It would have been if those customers could afford a (more) dedicated launch. I think the key thing about Falcon (large) rideshares is to hugely lower the cost for individual cubesats, significantly expanding the market.Rocket Lab has done a number of rideshare missions too. Unlike SpaceX, I don’t think Rocket Lab prices are public? I imagine SpaceX economies of scale and re-use mean they could price smaller launchers out of the cheap(er) end of the market?According to the GAO in a 2017 report. The Electron can lift 150 kg to SSO for about $4.9M or $32667 per kg. So guessing that each Electron flight will cost around $5.16M today with inflation.
Nearly finished with @ashleevance latest book. So good. Some classic quotes in there!
Like this banger from Markusic about SpaceX on Omelek island when he was at NASA. So what did he do? he joined us"They were putting the rocket up. It was cutting them. It was disappointing them. Things were going wrong. There were people drinking. People were teabagging* each other. I mean, very unprofessional”
With this footnote😂* For those who are unfamiliar with the term, teabagging in this context refers to the practice of placing one's testicles onto the face of an unsuspecting victim in a manner meant to cause general amusement for others in the vicinity. Though such an act would not be condoned under NASA protocols, SpaceX had no protocols.
Reminder for DC folks. My upcoming HBO documentary on the rise of the commercial space industry will premiere next weekend, the 15th. (Produced this alongside Spielberg's Amblin and Adam McKay's Hyperobject and ZPZ) If you're around, I'm doing a talk after the screening with the Oscar winner and director Ross Kauffman and @IgnatiusPost. Come one, come all.
Spent six years making this sucker. Hope you guys enjoy. Coming to HBO on July 17
The most candid behind-the-scenes look at Rocket Lab’s founding and the fierce race to open access to space for small sats.Streaming July 17th, #WildWildSpace is an @HBO Original Documentary by Academy Award winning director Ross Kauffman and based on @ashleevance’s NYT best-selling book.Enjoy it. It’s a wild ride.
There's very much of an arrogant tech-bro vibe in that promo.
Quote from: Blackstar on 07/09/2024 11:17 amThere's very much of an arrogant tech-bro vibe in that promo. There's some amazing Kemp tech-bro-isms and anecdotes in the book. It's going to interesting to see what was filmed and makes it to the documentary.
In reading that book, my impression was that Kemp at Astra was going to bring in more money than Beck at Rocketlabs, but that Rocketlabs would ultimately be more successful.
Just watched this, and I recommend it! I especially appreciate the unfiltered reactions of the CEO’s to successes and failures. And while I knew the Astra launch record, I was glad we got some of the early launch footage released rather than the snippets which have been shared privately for so long.Also good to see the little bit with @LeoLabs_Space in there because that wasn’t in the trailer.
I am disappointed they skipped over the Astra fairing deployment failure on flight 7 since that was kinda comical.
@RossKauffman warmest congrats - just saw the movie at last and it is everything I might have hoped for. You tell the tale thrillingly.
I have now watched "Wild Wild Space" all the way through. It is really good. There are several themes:........It ends with Astra closed down, everybody fired, and there he is sitting outdoors and insisting that he will succeed and the only way he won't succeed is if he's dead. Yeah, all those people who worked there lost their jobs, but the guy in the black T-shirt and the coifed hair is doing fine.
