When the Heavens Went on Sale: The Misfits and Geniuses Racing to Put Space Within Reach

Absolutely captivating inside account of the sea change underway to make rocket launches, satellites and access to space cheap and routine , all by way of privately owned companies. Turns out space is really hard and a lot of the knowledge gained during the Cold War has been lost and must be rediscovered at enormous expense. Venture capitalists are piling on but the way forward is littered with expensive failures.

Vance has a gift for finding interesting people and getting them to open up for him. He had to do it over and over again for this book -- the cast of characters is amazing. The stories they tell of the government agencies and the companies that are revolutionizing space travel are fascinating

I'm convinced that inexpensive access to low-Earth orbit will be transformative. I'm confident it's one of the ways we'll address the climate crisis, with sensors and monitors and more. I bet we can't imagine the ways it'll be used, yet. Might be some more books to write about that.

I absolutely loved this book.

When the Heavens Went on Sale: The Misfits and Geniuses Racing to Put Space Within Reach (2023) by Ashlee Vance.
I found this to be more of a cheerleading ramble than a serious look into the “Race for Space” ownership that is currently happening. I appreciate that several private companies are working hard to master space travel, but what does that mean to the vast majority of the population of the Earth? Not much. I know NASA scientists and the corporations that worked with them have paved the way to our modern age (cell phones and the computers that are an integral part of them, and so much, much more) but I get the feeling that only a select few of these pioneers will garner profits from this race.
There were several very show more interesting parts within the book, but the majority of it felt like press releases, smooth-talking sales people pitching their spiel for the masses. And a lack of introduction to the real science behind all of this left me wanting more. Granted, no company wants to give up it’s hard labored secrets, but give us a little bit of something. There are profiles of the companies that are working to bring down the cost of payloads to space, but I’m not planning to ship anything there so a lot of this is lost on me.
I suppose I should have spent more time thinking about what “The Misfits, etc” meant on the cover. Looking at it now I realize this book was to be just a pep rally for the big names involved in the project.
I should have passed on this one. show less

Good book to bring you up-to-date with the state of space in 2023. Written by a journalist with a concentration on personalities and limited attention to physics or engineering.

Really four small books in one, examining four New Space companies (Planet, Rocket Lab, Astra, and Firefly). Heavy on the interpersonal and thinner on the tech. Good survey of influence of Pete Worden and NASA Ames on growth of private space capabilities.

But I want to know what happens next.