Christian Davenport (1)
Author of The Space Barons: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the Quest to Colonize the Cosmos
For other authors named Christian Davenport, see the disambiguation page.
Works by Christian Davenport
The Space Barons: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the Quest to Colonize the Cosmos (2018) 252 copies, 5 reviews
Rocket Dreams: Musk, Bezos, and the Inside Story of the New, Trillion-Dollar Space Race (2025) 18 copies, 1 review
As You Were: To War and Back with the Black Hawk Battalion of the Virginia National Guard (2009) 16 copies, 1 review
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Gender
- male
- Education
- Colby College (BA, American Studies)
- Occupations
- journalist
- Organizations
- Washington Post
Austin American-Statesman
Philadelphia Inquirer - Short biography
- [from author's Linked In page]
Christian Davenport is a staff writer at The Washington Post, covering space for the Financial desk. He joined The Post in 2000, and was on a team that won the Peabody award in 2010 for its work on veterans with Traumatic Brain Injury and has been on reporting teams that were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize three times. He is the author of two books, The Space Barons: Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and the Quest to Colonize the Cosmos (2018) and As You Were: To War and Back with the Black Hawk Battalion of the Virginia National Guard (2009). A frequent commentator on television and radio, he was a producer of Space: The Private Frontier, a two-hour documentary that aired on the Discovery and Science Channels, and a producer and co-host of Space Launch Live, the networks' live broadcast of SpaceX's first crewed mission, which won an Emmy award in 2021 and was the highest rated, non-primetime telecast in Discovery's history. He has also served as a Public Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and a fellow at the Alicia Patterson Foundation. A graduate of Colby College, he lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife and three children. - Places of residence
- Washington, D.C., USA
- Associated Place (for map)
- D.C., USA
Members
Reviews
Rocket Dreams: Musk, Bezos, and the Inside Story of the New, Trillion-Dollar Space Race by Christian Davenport
As a child growing up in the sixties, I was fascinated with space exploration. The Apollo program, the moon landing, the rockets and the astronauts, right into Skylab, the Hubble satellite, and the International Space Station. This book brought back some of the old fascination and made me feel a bit like a kid again!
It's the story of the modern day space race. It is no longer led by NASA, the Congresspeople restricting the process by only granting projects/research to companies in their show more districts, and the huge mega corporations supposedly leading the projects. Today, many countries have outpace the US on the "space race". And with them, two billionaires running their own "NASA'S", Elon Musk (Space X) and Jeff Bezos (Blue Origin).
Put aside your feelings towards both men (and it is very hard to, I know), and read the book. Discover how they have completely shook up the race. Whereas Boeing and other large companies draw out their contracts (and promises) with huge cost overruns and delays, Bezos and Musk run right over them. To be honest, without these two men, NASA might very well be unfunded and dead.
It was amazing the way the author put you right into the rooms where decisions were being made. And how fast, and under how much pressure. The way Musk and Bezos acted towards their employees, and the pressures to perform, were insane. I am so glad that I do not work for either, they are quite mad. But they get results! And bring back the old days, rocketry run with a hope and a prayer. And the gains they have made are incredible. One cannot dispute that.
This was an excellent book that I enjoyed reading a great deal. I can definitely recommend it to anyone interested in space exploration.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book. show less
It's the story of the modern day space race. It is no longer led by NASA, the Congresspeople restricting the process by only granting projects/research to companies in their show more districts, and the huge mega corporations supposedly leading the projects. Today, many countries have outpace the US on the "space race". And with them, two billionaires running their own "NASA'S", Elon Musk (Space X) and Jeff Bezos (Blue Origin).
Put aside your feelings towards both men (and it is very hard to, I know), and read the book. Discover how they have completely shook up the race. Whereas Boeing and other large companies draw out their contracts (and promises) with huge cost overruns and delays, Bezos and Musk run right over them. To be honest, without these two men, NASA might very well be unfunded and dead.
It was amazing the way the author put you right into the rooms where decisions were being made. And how fast, and under how much pressure. The way Musk and Bezos acted towards their employees, and the pressures to perform, were insane. I am so glad that I do not work for either, they are quite mad. But they get results! And bring back the old days, rocketry run with a hope and a prayer. And the gains they have made are incredible. One cannot dispute that.
This was an excellent book that I enjoyed reading a great deal. I can definitely recommend it to anyone interested in space exploration.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book. show less
The Space Barons: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the Quest to Colonize the Cosmos: Library Edition by Christian Davenport
Great overview and current summary of one of the most interesting engineering and business achievements going on right now — the new space race, in particular Elon Musk and SpaceX as well as Jeff Bezos and Blue Origin, Richard Branson and Virgin Galactic, and some earlier (Beal) and more ancillary companies. In the 1990s if I’d thought space would someday be something other than NASA dead end shuttle bullshit, I probably would have gone into aerospace rather than computing and computer show more security. While computing and networks are one of the big engineering achievements in their own right (and in the form of AI, possibly greater than space, and on par with life extension as most important area of development), there is just something about space which makes it appealing. show less
The space barons : Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the quest to colonize the cosmos by Christian Davenport
Excellent - a very good review of what is going on in the "new Space" movement. And - yet again, I find I'm rooting for Blue Origin over SpaceX - we need them both, of course, but I just like the Blue Origin style - I'm rooting for the tortoise!
The Space Barons: Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and the Quest to Colonize the Cosmos by Christian Davenport
Puff piece by Washington Post staffer on cool Musk and cooler Jeff Bezos and less cool Richard Branson when they were still on the winning team of Democrat scientists. So much cost cutting! Obama is monster of space exploration ideas until he shut it all down because Obamacare and keeping your own doctor (huh?). Skip this amateurish high school book report science project.
Statistics
- Works
- 5
- Members
- 289
- Popularity
- #80,897
- Rating
- 4.0
- Reviews
- 7
- ISBNs
- 52
- Languages
- 3
