Rocket Billionaires: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the New Space Race

by Tim Fernholz

The inside story of the new race to conquer space, as Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos spend billions of their own money to explore the final frontier

For the larger‑than‑life personalities now staking their fortunes on the development of rocket ships, the new race to explore space could be a dead end, a lucrative opportunity — or the key to humanity’s salvation.
 
Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos take center stage in this fast‑paced narrative as they attempt to disrupt the space economy, feed their own egos, and maybe even save the world. We also meet a supporting cast of equally fascinating entrepreneurs, from the irrepressible British mogul Richard Branson to satellite Internet visionary Greg Wyler. All are united in the profound conviction that commercial space transportation will transform our world for the better.
 
Tim Fernholz’s fly‑on‑the‑wall reporting captures an industry in the midst of disruption, as NASA seeks to preserve its ambitious space exploration 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.

With privileged access to top executives at SpaceX, including Musk himself, as well as at Blue Origin, NASA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Orbital ATK, Virgin Galactic, Fernholz spins this high‑stakes marathon into a riveting tale of rivalry and survival. 

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

304 pages, Hardcover

First published March 20, 2018

Reviews

[Quintin Zimmermann · Rating 4 out of 5]

An absorbing novel that oscillated between absolutely enthralling to being rather dry in its delivery.

As the title attests, the main focus of the novel is upon rivalry between Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos as SpaceX and Blue Origins battle each other and the entrenched behemoths, Lockheed Martin and Boeing.

In Rocket Billionaires, there is a greater focus on Elon Musk and SpaceX, which is understandable considering the enigmatic nature of Blue Origins and Jeff Bezos, while the novel, The Space Barons, apparently focuses more on Blue Origins.

The cutthroat nature of the rocket industry and the lobbying of government for open chequebooks with bloated budgets and rampant expenditure is an industry that completely underestimated the likes of upstarts Musk and Bezos, who with their contrasting styles of business acumen defied the odds and wrote a new rule book based on simplicity of design and unfettered control over design and manufacturing to keep costs on a tight rein.

I look forward to following the continued exploits of Musk, Bezos and others in the pursuit of Mars and beyond.

[Ietrio · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am waiting to be surprised, but by the first impression, the book looks like written by one of the many failures of the state schooling: a small mind rehashing the colonial era for the greater glory of country and flag. Because there simple isn't a race. There is room for someone to make deliveries, and someone to make exploration, and someone to mine and someone to put humans in outposts. And all these can be called monopolists by the kings of the Earth as an excuse to pump even more value. And I am assuming a shallow understanding of the subject, as there never was a space race to make this one "the new".

[Scott Wozniak · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a survey of the last 10-15 years, covering the first private space companies in the history of the world. It's actually written as a fast-paced, competitive drama between the various companies and in the process takes a fairly balanced view on the various niches of each company.

If you're into space (I always have been) then you'll like this. If not, then there are some good business and innovation insights, but that's a bonus, not the point of the book.

[Stephen Heiner · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you've somehow been fully checked out of following advances in space for the past 20 years or so, this book will get you caught up. Despite its being published in 2018, it seems especially timely to read now as Virgin Galactic has finally made its first flight into space, Bezos has stepped down from Amazon to give Blue Origin his full attention, and SpaceX has made reusable rockets so passe that the technology is now considered normal.

If you want a very good survey of space from "the beginning" with Operation Paperclip and Werner Von Braun all the way to 2018, this book is a good complement for this Audible Original, The Space Race: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

While Elon Musk and SpaceX dominate this book, it's less because of the author's obsession with the two, but rather the fact that Blue Origin (Bezos' company) has been content to work in the shadows with close to no publicity for most of its existence and Virgin Galactic (Branson's company) did not have any real pressure to make rapid progress, and hence took their time.

[Anjie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating to read a book that hits close to home, but seems like science fiction all at the same time. It was interesting to see the bigger picture, and not just my tiny little view of the rocket industry.

[Alex Devero · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a captivating story about the evolution of space program, starting with the early and humble beginnings and continuing to the present time. In the past, the space program was completely depend on states and countries and their budgets. This is now changing. Today, the evolution of space program is more and more driven by wealthy individuals and private companies. These pioneers are pursuing their audacious visions reaching far beyond the planet Earth. Many of them are willing to risk everything to conquer this ultimate frontier, the space. Rocket Billionaires describes the race between these individuals and their companies, namely Elon Musk (SpaceX), Jeff Bezos (Blue Origin) and Richard Branson (Virgin Galactic). Although their goals might vary, from saving human kind by becoming a multi-planetary civilization to pure entertainment, the final destination is always the same—space.

I recommend this book to everyone interested in space as well as pursuing audacious visions and goals. There are also some business and innovation insights you will find useful.

[Mert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Puanım 3/5 (%64/100)

Popular Science Türkiye veya All About Space Türkiye dergilerinden birisinden gördüğüm ve listeme eklediğim bir kitaptı. Şans eseri 4 lira gibi çok ucuz bir fiyata aldım. (%80 indirim tarzı bir şey vardı.) Uzay ve bilime ilgim olduğu için genelde dergilerde veya internette yazılar okumayı seviyorum. Fakat bu alanda satın aldığım pek kitap yoktu.

Kitap çok güzel şekilde yazılıp düzenlenmiş. Fernholz'un yıllarca süren araştırmalar sonucu kaynaklara dayandırarak verdiği birçok bilgi var. Sadece Elon Musk ve Jeff Bezos değil, uzay ve bilim ile ilgili de birçok şey öğrenme fırsatını yakalıyorsunuz. Okurken ben çok eğlendim. Elon Musk özellikle benim kişisel ilgimin olduğu birisi olduğu için hoş bir kitaptı. Kendinizi geliştirmek istiyorsanız başarılı bir kitap olduğunu düşünüyorum.

[Lissa00 · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a new class of rich that is not happy with what can be gained on Earth and are instead shooting for new ventures in space. This book details how and why these men decided to enter into a new space race with the ultimate goal being Mars. This had some interesting details and behind the scenes information from people who worked for these companies. Ultimately though, this is the kind of book that falls out of date very quickly and I am not sure it will hold up for many years. I received a digital ARC of this book through NetGalley.

[Yukari Watanabe · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's good, but less exciting than THE SPACE BARONS. I could be because I read the other one first. I'll mention this book in my review for Newsweek Japan.

[Michelle Mallette · Rating 3 out of 5]

After decades of being the leader in space exploration, NASA is giving way to privately funded space research. It started with the X Prize and the Antari Prize competitions, and companies like SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, and the lesser known Blue Horizon are driving the game now, seeking to commercialize the process and reduce costs by developing reusable rockets that can launch a satellite into orbit and then return to earth and land for later reuse, saving a LOT of time and money.But how did these efforts get their start? This book tells the stories of two men in particular, Silicon Valley billionaires Elon Musk of Tesla fame and Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon, and their decisions to plow personal fortunes into rocket development. It’s a difficult task, a road littered with explosions and mishaps but it’s a fascinating story told by Fernholz, a former Washington D.C. reporter. While his opinion occasionally bleeds through, overall his writing is strong with a well-organized approach and meticulous research. He uses a lot of quotes from personal interviews as well as citations from documents, but instead of using a numbered note system, he organizes endnotes by chapter using short excerpts (e.g. “no money to continue”) to reference his source. I am guessing Fernholz intends to make the book more populist in its appearance, knowing that dedicated researchers can quickly figure it out. A bit techy at times, it's a fascinating read that will appeal to those interested in the current rocket research activity. It’s a good candidate for sharing with teen tech and space geeks, too. My thanks to publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the digital reading copy provided through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

[Justinian · Rating 3 out of 5]

19-04 – Rocket Billionaires: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the New Space Race (Audiobook) Tim Fernholz (Author) Erin Moon (Reader) 2018. 304 pages.



A frustrating book if you are a fan of NASA and the US space program. An exciting book if you are a fan of space exploration. In order to understand the commercial side of space you first have to reckon with the decline of the government space programs. This book does deal with that aspect, but perhaps not as much as I would have hoped for. The book, while very good, is a bit rah, rah about private industry vs public. In many ways it is comparing apples to oranges. However the book does an excellent job of describing the vision and motivation of the leading players in the commercial sector. The largest players, Bezos and Musk see profits as means to an end … the end is actually altruistic. That altruistic end is saving planet Earth and the humans who reside here. It is the type of vision that early space pioneers like von Braun and Tsiolkovsky advocated. As government transitioned from leadership to management and became more commercially oriented the vision shifted to the commercial sector. Some of this gets lost in this book as it tends to overly laud the commercial sector without a deeper understanding of changes in society and the US government. All told though this is a very good book. A very good history of post Apollo space flight … choices, costs, shifting targets. Space matters and is a topic that should be interest to all … this book is a very good conversation starter.

[Seng Wee Wong · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book focuses on the process of revolutionising space travel. I saw some of the book reviews before I started reading this book and they were saying, “this book is bootlicking Elon Musk, most parts of the literature is talking about his achievements.”

I would not deny this but to be fair to the author, he did mention quite a fair bit about what NASA did and other entrepreneurs tried to do before they run out of funds to continue. Sadly space business is capital intensive and one would need to gather technical expertise to make this whole thing happen. We’re not even sure the shareholders can make a profit in the short run. One thing for sure, it will reap long term benefits - extending humanity’s reach for resources and sustainability.

One thing I learnt from this book, private space enterprises inspired NASA. NASA was too risk-averse despite itself being in a risky business. Irony. It’s a good thing SpaceX, Blue Origin got things started. Good summary of the space private industry.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good read. I have read biographies on both Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos and know about them a bit. For the most part, the author talked about Musk for the majority of the book ( about 2/3 ), because he has done more with Space X (his company) much more so than Bezos has done with Blue Origin. Gives insight about their plans, headaches, etc in achieving their goals. Some technical / scientific jargon is thrown in this book, but for the most part understandable to common ordinary folks. The author mentioned that both space pioneers are doing this to " save humanity " is utter b.s. It is about $ !!! Hey, after all their living the American Dream is about getting richer and richer driving their big fat ego's to the max. But, to their credit they are doing things that were not achievable until they arrived including a reuseable booster that lands back on the pad ! Good read for any spaceman out there ...

[Chuck · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book, the title of which is misleading in my opinion. This book is primarily about Elon Musk’s SpaceX and their quest to commercialize space. The author touches on some other billionaires turned rocketeers, but a race or showdown this is not. The book makes a few points about the potential ramifications of commercializing space & lowering the cost of access. It is a fairly densely written book, the writing is not particularly bad or good, and the subject is interesting but also made me a bit unsettled.

I have very mixed feelings about the morality of billionaires in space. My feelings are even more mixed on the subject of billionaires being subsidized by the government in order to make even more money.

A side note— this felt very “Elon-bro” with hints of Trumperism mixed for the overall tone.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Similar to The Space Barons I recently read, though this book covers less of the backgrounds of Musk, Bezos, etc., and more of the testing and development of the rockets. Full of good information and a pleasurable read about a subject of my personal interest. Note: I "read" this book by listening to an unabridged audio production by Audible (also a Bezos property). The reader apparently believes that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is pronounced "Nassau," (like the city in the Bahamas). I found that very distracting, and was also surprised that the audio track was not proofed prior to release, because there were a number of obvious errors in the reading, which I verified by checking the hardcopy book.

[Adrianne Gutman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of densely packed information about the space industry.
Focuses a lot on how the industry became commercialized and what that brought.
Felt as if I was pushing myself to read the book in the beginning, it felt pretty slow. However, it got better throughout the book.
I’d recommend this to anyone that is going into the space industry, likes aeronautics/avionics, or even business people (as it highlights the business side of companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin)

Since books can’t update like news, some of the information about the most recent dates are off. Like recent launches from Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin, and SpaceX. Author can’t help that though

Overall, glad I read it! Learned more about the history of the space industry!

[Brian Miears · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn’t put this one down! This is a fascinating journey through the corridors of the human heart and mind. Rocket Billionaires touches on some of the deepest flaws and greatest accomplishments of the human race. We get a peek behind the curtain where big governments have a public facade and a secretive mission, the two being directly opposed sometimes. We get to see the awkward entanglement of competing companies, limited resources, and a singular goal. Fernholtz does a great job building suspense as you watch great people put everything on the line, their lives and livelihood often hanging in the balance, to usher humanity into a spacefaring people.

[Rebekah · Rating 2 out of 5]

**Goodreads giveaway recipient**

One-third is bashing NASA (do I think NASA is the end-all-be-all of space flight and exploration? Absolutely not. But do I think it has done some important and really cool things that shouldn’t be discounted?? YES!!); one-third is number-flinging (I don’t neeeeed to know how many millions of dollars are thrown around every time these guys build something or auction off who gets to build); and the last third is actual interesting information (albeit delivered in a distant, impersonal kind of way).

This book is not thrilling or amazing or inspiring.....which blows my mind because space exploration IS THOSE THINGS!!! But this book is just not.

[Laura Aguirre · Rating 4 out of 5]

I start off by saying this is some counseling on whether to read this book or not. It is by no means a complete review since this is the only book I have read on this matter and hopefully not the last. It has for sure very little scientific jargon which is nevertheless necessary for making construction and operation of rockets make sense. It is not an easy read and has a lot of CEOs quotes, the writer is a journalist so it reads at times like a specific scientific paper. Here is a brief check list.

* Name of Companies
* Launch years and aerospace accidents
* Hearings and lawsuits
* Future plans for space

[Stephen Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable overview of how the tech billionaires are working to make progress in space commercialization. It has been a slow agonizing process moving nowhere near the speed expected. Interesting to see the different approaches being used by the different companies. A side effect of this book is that it will make you feel you are being fleeced by the government on how they pay exorbitant fees to various companies with very little oversight, and how those fees just keep growing. Really shows how out of control the US budgeting process is, and no one is really looking after the taxpayer.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finished this book shortly after I read “Space Barons”. I initially thought it was a bit dry as compared to that one. But I really came to enjoy the focus on each company’s core approach to the challenges of organic development. More importantly, this book offered additional insights into adjacent tech that SpaceX and others are exploring (sat networks, moon rovers, etc.). All in all, if you are a space buff you will enjoy this work. It’s well written and brings the current space race to life.

[Moritz Mueller-Freitag · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tim Fernholz provides a solid introduction to the new space age and the rivalry between Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin. I particularly enjoyed the chapter on how SpaceX took on the military-industrial complex and broke ULA’s monopoly of US government launches.

One shortcoming of the book is that it largely ignores non-American space efforts. For example, it doesn’t mention Peter Beck’s Rocket Lab, which got started in New Zealand before relocating to the US. Then again, Beck isn't a billionaire (yet) and this probably disqualified him from being part of the book's main cast.

[Paul Mundie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this book after listening to the Wondery Podcast Business Wars on SpaceX v Blue Origin. I thought it would provide greater insight on the different types of technology each company is designing to reach space. It focuses more however on the political battles between the two companies and the established old guard NASA/Boeing etc. which is interesting but not quite what I was looking for.

Overall it is a good read and hopefully in a few years, once one of the two company has achieved the first commercial human spaceflight, this book will be a great window into the past.

[Bonnie]

I'm choosing not to rate this b/c I have no idea what rating to give it. Parts of it were extremely interesting and others really dry.

I think it's interesting that I was reading this the week that Richard Branson launched himself into space (well, maybe, there's debate on where space actually starts....)

I didn't know a lot of the background of ULA, so that was good to learn.

I also find it hypocritical of Elon Musk to attack ULA's government contracts about monopolizing the industry when that's exactly what he's doing now.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clear, straightforward telling of the story of commercial cargo, commercial crew, and reusable rocket developments by SpaceX and Blue Origin. Basically caught me up to speed with everything happening with the commercial launch industry, or at least new entrants to it who are challenging the monopoly of ULA and the other traditional launch providers, despite their best efforts to stymie SpaceX and Blue Origin.

[Irek Piecuch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascynujaca lektura i jednoczesnie dowod na to jak wiels mozna zmienic jesli polaczyc wizje, pasje i determinacje. Kolejny dowod na nieefektywnosc panstwa - przyczynek to mrzonek wielu politykie widzacych w panstwie narzedzie do transformacji gospodarki.. Kosmos to cos wiecej niz niebo pełne gwiazd ... to naturalny obszar ludzkiej ekspancji ... Musk i inni pokazuja ze to nie tylko mozliwe ale i opacalne. A jak swiat światem, opłacalność zawsze pociagala rzesze naśladowców.

[Andrei Popescu · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very inspiring and eye-opening book. I started it a couple of months ago but only recently returned to continue reading -- when I got excited about space exploration.
The book gives a very clear discourse into the latest history of rocket building with a focus on private companies, exploring what challenges they faced and how they overcame them. Definitely recommend it to people who want to get up to speed with this business.

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Based on a number of interviews with the major players, this book provides a good insider's view of the space industry. I learned quite a bit about the rocket propulsion business as well as about the personalities of Musk and Bezos. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in human exploration of the cosmos.

[Dennise Ardi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book provides a insight into the rise of private rocket companies (particularly from SpaceX and Blue Origins perspectives), the impact they play and how they will continue to challenge the industry and our way of living in the future. I must say that the book is really inspiring for those working in technology or engineering. It was a great follow-up from Ashley Vance’s book on Elon Musk.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of good background and stories in this book, but I personally did not find it all that compelling in the end. Took me over a year to read because it was so easy to put down. This probably could have been a shorter book if were organized differently. I felt Deja vu several times as I re-read the same launch / failure store in subsequent chapters.