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Tim Fernholz
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Rocket Billionaires: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the New Space Race Paperback – 26 Mar. 2019

by Tim Fernholz (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 170 ratings
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Featured on NPR and PBS's SciTech Now, and in Fast Company, Forbes, and the Wall Street Journal

The inside story of the new race to conquer space

For the outsize personalities staking their fortunes on spaceships, the new race to explore space could be a dead end, a lucrative opportunity--or the key to humanity's survival.
Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos take center stage in this fast-paced narrative as they attempt to disrupt the space economy and feed their own egos. We meet a supporting cast of equally fascinating entrepreneurs, from the irrepressible British mogul Richard Branson to the satellite internet visionary Greg Wyler.
Tim Fernholz's fly-on-the-wall reporting captures an industry in the midst of disruption. NASA seeks to preserve its ambitious space program, traditional aerospace firms like Boeing and Lockheed Martin scramble to adapt to new competitors, lobbyists tussle over public funds, and lawmakers try to prevent this new space race from sparking global conflict. Fernholz spins this high-stakes marathon into a riveting tale of rivalry and survival.

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  1. Print length
    336 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    26 Mar. 2019
  4. Dimensions
    13.49 x 2.13 x 20.32 cm
  5. ISBN-10
    1328592812
  6. ISBN-13
    978-1328592811
  7. See all details
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Product description

Review

Featured on NPR and PBS's SciTech Now, as well as in Fast Company, Forbes, and Inverse. "Provides smart analysis of the New Space sector as well as historical context about NASA's triumph and failures."--The New York Times Book Review "Mr. Fernholz, a reporter at the website Quartz, provides the better organized narrative, centered on the private sector's quest to build reusable rocket technology." --The Wall Street Journal "Outstanding."--Forbes "Important and revealing...exciting."--The Weekly Standard "...fascinating biographical details about today's space entrepreneurs...[Fernholz] does a good job of explaining the risks involved in the rocket industry." --The Weekly Standard "Pass[es] along shiny nuggets about the origins and evolution of the billionaires' space dreams."--GeekWire "This book is exemplary journalistic work. Fernholz relates the story of these two self-made companies to the public in a non-biased way. It is evident on every page how passionate Fernholz is about this project and it really shows, yet he maintains an academic, non-intrusive journalistic voice. The narrative flows smoothly and is by no means elitist or exclusive. --Infinite Text --

About the Author

TIM FERNHOLZ is a reporter at Quartz, the award-winning global news site from the Atlantic Media Company. He has been reporting on SpaceX since 2011, as well as covering the global economy at large. He has been a Knight Journalism Fellow and a fellow at the New America Foundation in Washington, D.C., and was a co-host of Actuality, a podcast about the new global economy co-produced by Quartz and Marketplace.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Mariner Books; Reprint edition (26 Mar. 2019)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1328592812
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1328592811
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 13.49 x 2.13 x 20.32 cm
  • Customer reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 170 ratings

About the author

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Tim Fernholz

Tim Fernholz

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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
170 global ratings

Top reviews from United Kingdom

Conan The Librarian
3.0 out of 5 stars It's OK
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 24 July 2020
Verified Purchase
It's OK, but kind of goes on repeat. Basically this is all about procurement failures and one company - SpaceX - that managed to cut through that. The first few chapters are insightful, and then it kind of goes on repeat. There's only so much you can read about procurement processes - even if they are related to the space sector. But, a useful intro.
One person found this helpful
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A. P. Parry
4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 16 November 2021
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Enjoyable
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Top reviews from other countries

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Samuel J. Hasson
5.0 out of 5 stars COMPLETE UNDERSTANDING OF ALL THE ISSUES INVOLVED
Reviewed in the United States on 28 March 2024
Verified Purchase
FIRST OF ALL, TO GET A FULL PICTURE OF ALL THE ISSUES INVOLVED, FROM THE HIGHEST LEVEL OF POLITICS TO THE BASIC RUDIMENTARY ISSUES OF ROCKET PHYSICS, THIS WRITER LEAVES NO STONE UNTURNED. HIS KNOWLEDGE FROM A TO Z AND ABILITY TO CONVEY IT TO THE GENERAL READER IS NOTHING SHORT OF GENIUS. WHICH LEADS ME TO THIS QUESTION: WHY DO WE NOT SEE MORE FROM HIM? DID SOMETHING HAPPEN? I HOPE NOT. HIS INSIGHT AND ANALYSIS IS MULTI-DIMENSIONAL AND WE SEE THE COMPLETE PICTURE. THERE IS NOTHING MICKEY MOUSE ABOUT HIS REPORTING; JUST A STRAIGHT SHOOTER THAT CALLS IT AS HE SEES IT. I'M WAITING..........
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Client d'Amazon
4.0 out of 5 stars Très bon
Reviewed in France on 3 March 2020
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Excellente introduction aux enjeux et aux problématiques du NEW SPACE
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Richard Laxton
4.0 out of 5 stars Insightful exploration of New Space
Reviewed in Australia on 7 June 2018
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Lots of interesting information, some of which even I, as a "New Space fanboy" was not aware of. Mr Fernholz has an engaging writing style. His exposition of the political shenanigans between the various old and new space players was particularly insightful. The discussion of some of the casualties of New Space through the 1980s and 1990s really brought home how unlikely SpaceX and Blue Origin are.
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Paolo Ferreri
4.0 out of 5 stars Impressive. Get to know all the players.
Reviewed in the United States on 19 February 2020
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Impressive documented narration of this recent new era of space exploration and commercialization.
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Bing Riley
5.0 out of 5 stars The new space race
Reviewed in the United States on 28 June 2021
Verified Purchase
Good overview of Space X, Blue Origin and Virgin Atlantic private space programs and competition. The programs have different goals, but need to develop better launch capabilities to make their ultimate goals. Musk and Bezos are both space lovers, from their childhood to now. They do other things in order to indulge in their first love, which is space. Musk wants to colonize Mars. Bezos want to establish floating cities of millions of people living and working in space. Branson wants to establish space tourism, as does Bezos. Space X is the hare and Bezos is the tortoise, and this is by design. Lockheed Martin and Boeing have been so corrupted by government cost-plus procurement, that they can not compete when it comes to cost. Watch for the new space companies to bring down the cost of launches through the use of reuseable rockets and vehicles. We need new engines which lower costs and high reliability, and we need to make space flight affordable to the masses. It is a good primer to follow what the privatization of space and the competition is all about.
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