Rocket Dreams: Musk, Bezos, and the Inside Story of the New, Trillion-Dollar Space Race

by Christian Davenport

Musk versus Bezos.
China versus the United States.
The government versus the private sector.
Welcome to the rivalries and alliances defining the New Space Age.
At stake? Billions of dollars, national prestige, and a place in the history books.

Moon landings and space walks once captivated the public’s attention. But, in recent decades, the U.S. space enterprise has felt moribund. Now, that’s finally about to change.

A fleet of powerful new rockets is poised to take humans into the cosmos more than ever before. A lunar land rush has sparked a geopolitical competition among nations. And the world’s two richest men have engaged in escalating brinkmanship, as NASA and the U.S. government embraces Silicon Valley innovation to jump-start the nation’s ambitions.

Space has entered a golden age, and this is just the beginning. In this gripping work, award-winning Washington Post writer Christian Davenport chronicles the mad scramble to shape humanity’s off-planet future. He takes readers behind the scenes at NASA and the Pentagon as China’s aggressive moon mining plans raise alarms, onto the sprawling Cape Canaveral factory where Blue Origin is working toward Amazon-style lunar deliveries, and onto SpaceX launch pads as Musk’s engineers log 100-hour weeks—leaving veteran astronauts marveling that they’re now operating “flying iPhones.”

What will happen as human ambition outpaces governmental regulation? Which country will win the race back to the moon? Was Donald Trump’s much-derided creation of the Space Force a surprising act of foresight, and will the U.S. finally make a real push to the moon and eventually toward Mars?

Masterfully paced, rigorously reported, and vividly told, Rocket Dreams offers a riveting, fly-on-the-wall account of the grit-fueled global battle to push humankind further into the cosmos—revealing that the science fiction dreams of the last century may soon become our reality.

Genres: Technology, Science, Space, Nonfiction, History, Business

384 pages, Hardcover

First published September 16, 2025

Reviews

[Alan Chrisman · Rating 3 out of 5]

US space program dependent on only private companies: Elon Musk' Space X, Jeff Bezos'(Amazon) Blue Origin, competing for billions federal funds to carry humans into space. Musk with his reusable rockets; Bezos working on a moon lander. Plan to use the moon as station to Mars, moon minerals converted into oxygen and rocket fuel. China has already sent 4 landers to moon and Mars once(only country to set down dark side of the moon, more accessible to water). Another Space Race like in the 60s. Russia, japan, India also in the mix.

[Mercè · Rating 5 out of 5]

You may or may not be a fan of Musk and Bezos, but there’s no denying their exceptional intelligence.

This book is an ambitious journalistic narrative, meticulously detailed and presented from the perspective of an insider with scientific expertise and a deep understanding of the economic and political factors shaping the current state of space exploration.

It is well-written, but it required a significant amount of concentration on my part. I found myself needing a notebook and pen to keep track of acronyms, names, roles, and events. Despite this, there’s a lot to learn from the book.

And just by chance, I finished the book on November 21st, 2025, the day SpaceX performed a first test on the super heavy Booster 18, (first stage booster, was out of the factory the day before, and is part of the Starship V3 program.) This is the program, that perhaps will get us to Mars. The gas system pressure test failed before the structural integrity test was performed. Good test, bad booster!

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

To publish this in 2025 and gloss over Elon’s gleeful destruction of the federal government, not to mention his racist and transphobic proclamations, is negligent journalism. The rest of the book is great though.

[Phil Manougian · Rating 4 out of 5]

What could have been a high level overview of the two companies, SpaceX and Blue Origin, did provide enough real-to-life detail to make this story worth writing. Much was left out, likely on both sides, but a volume that properly captures everything would be an order of magnitude longer read. Overall, enjoyable, insightful, and compelling read.

[Richard Thompson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I grew up in the 60s. I remember going outside in the evening to watch for the first satellites passing over us. I listened (usually on radio, sometimes TV) to almost every launch and landing of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs, and, of course, I remember watching the first moon landing on a black and white TV at my grandmother's house. I went out to Edwards Air Force Base in the desert north of Los Angeles to see one of the early space shuttle landings. My interest in space has never been all that deep, but I was carried along on the wave of popular culture and have followed all of the various space programs with the same degree of interest as I have in popular music and sports - I like them all well enough, but mostly my interest is based on being able to participate in a conversation about them.

So OK, now I had better be conversant with what goes on at SpaceX and Blue Origin and the Artemis program. Unfortunately, this book is mostly an empty praise fest for our two most toxic billionaires. I don't care about Musk and Bezos. Their engineers and scientists and the problems that they solve are interesting, but too much of this book is an uncritical look at the roles of the bad guys at the top. I guess it is good that they are interested in space instead of something more damaging. I do think that the US should have a strong space program and if the government is going to drop the ball then I'd rather have Musk and Bezos pick up some of the slack than to have space technology languish. But I would have enjoyed this book much more if it had focused on the people who actually do the work.

[Timothy Liu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed getting to hear about America's return to space and how it's being done through private companies. Davenport goes over how SpaceX and Blue Origin are both the top companies competing for NASA contracts and each company is pursuing the same goals but in different ways. SpaceX is aggressive and doesn't always follow traditionally established standards, while Blue Origin is more methodical and has a less intense culture. Although, I got to learn that Blue Origin is shifting more toward an Amazon-esque leadership style that focuses on results and venture money in order to catch up and keep pace with SpaceX. I've never followed aerospace but I loved getting an insight into how the next decade of space can be investable and also volatile.

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gave me a look into our modern day space race. I really don't like this being moved away from the government and moved into a private industry controlled by billionaires - excuse me a billionaire and a trillionaire. As taxpayers we aren't saving money as we are funding the biggest toys for these two men. Neither man is viewed in a positive light. Musk was just starting with DOGE when the book could no longer be updated. Again, programs were cut that actually help low income Americans to fund the toys.

How did this book find me? New book on something that affects us know.

[Joshua · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating story about the history of the space industrial complex. Having grown up with the Space Shuttle and now in the age of private space travel, I devour these types of books. This book provides a blow by blow of the evolution of an epic battle between two of the richest people in the world. What makes me really think is when you see how upstart companies (backed by billionaires) are helping us get back to space. Given various national rivals, I for one cannot wait for the sequel when we talk about getting to the moon and have a real plan to get to Mars in my lifetime!

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book about SpaceX and Blue Origin. There are far better books about SpaceX alone (Ashlee Vance, etc.), but much less coverage of Blue Origin, and as far as I can tell this might be the best book covering it. The same author's previous book (Space Barrons) covered more of the early history, but since it was published in 2018, misses basically all the good stuff about Blue Origin -- the massively increased progress since Dave Limp (from Amazon consumer products) replaced Bob Smith (previously from Honeywell; a traditional aerospace guy) as CEO.

[Scott Beddingfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent and very current recounting of how Bezos and Musk became so involved in space. Great stories describing the intersection of NASA, US military, political and private sectors all pursuing space travel. The author explains technical, scientific concepts clearly as he moves the story along. Rare these days but included is objective reporting of presidential involvement of presidents, Kennedy, Nixon, Bush, Obama, Trump and Biden. Very timely and informative read that read fast for me.

[Ernesto · Rating 3 out of 5]

Me encanta el tema de la exploración espacial y este libro me dejó asomarme a ese mundo, aunque fuera de manera superficial. Le falta profundidad a la narrativa, que a veces se remite a contar hitos y resumir sucesos ofreciendo pocos detalles, pero darle más visibilidad al tema me parece buenísimo. La carrera havia el espacio no solo es entre billonarios, también entre EEUU y China, cuyo ganador determinará en gran medida las reglas del juego para la exploración espacial y el uso de recursos.

[Judi Fine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book traces the race to space by the two of the wealthiest men in the world. Davenport stays focused on the space race with digression only occasionally as it pertains to developing rockets, to personal lives. A very well-written book. I was caught up in the story, rooting for the companies and even a shed a tear when things blew up. I highly recommend this book.

[LDS · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent chronicle of Blue Origin and SpaceX, marred by excessive political editorializing. It would have been much better if the author had stuck to the facts and left his personal opinions out of the narrative.

[Epbodo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent historical review of the race to the moon and beyond

This is a very well written account of the race to the Moon and Mars by a number of nations and private US companies. Very entertaining.

[Thomas Christianson · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting look at the new space race. Mostly the context of the beginning of the race, as it does not provide much information on current realities.

This book also could have been subtitled "The breathtaking incompetence of Boeing and Congressional leadership"

[Ron Nurmi · Rating 4 out of 5]

a look at how the competition between two billionaires drove the space race in the U.S.

[Graham Harwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

definitely has a pov, but still good

[OSCAR · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good and in-depth review of these latest years of the American space industry

[Michael Roofian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Davenport offers a fast-paced, well-reported look into the billionaire-fueled modern space race, spotlighting Musk’s visionary drive and Bezos’s methodical approach.

[Abigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

A story that thoroughly covers the new space race. While delving into much of the politics, Davenport not only reveals the challenges, but also why the private sector is taking charge,

[Brent · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.2

[Jason Orthman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read detailing the role of NASA, Bezos and Musk in the space race. The incredible drive of Musk shows how advances are made. Future is exciting.