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Space Race 2.0: SpaceX, Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, NASA, and the Privatization of the Final Frontier
Space Race 2.0 is the only authoritative photographic history of the efforts of private companies—often alongside NASA—to accelerate humankind’s exploration and understanding of the final frontier.
The private space sector is growing tremendously. The industry’s consensus leader, SpaceX, headed by outspoken billionaire Elon Musk, is today worth an estimated $74 billion. And SpaceX and its chief competitors, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic, are taking on more roles—flying cargo, supplies, and astronauts to outer space. Space Race 2.0 tells their story with expertly written text by science journalist Brad Bergan and stunning photography of the spacecraft, key players, and facilities in California, Texas, and Florida.
In the 1950s and ’60s, the first Space Race pitted two political ideologies against one either Communism or Capitalism would prove superior. Ultimately, the US landed on the moon, the race’s crowning achievement. Now, more than a half-century later, the Space Race has pivoted from a contest between ideological rivals to private aerospace firms competing for contracts.
Today, rather than symbolic goals motivated by patriotism, the defining success of a launch system extends beyond engineering and science to image and ROI. Founded in 2002, SpaceX’s trajectory was determined by Musk’s realization that he could achieve higher profits by vertically integrating—manufacturing his own rockets and spacecraft—rather than relying on third parties. The decision was prescient, resulting in a state-of-the-art headquarters in Hawthorne, California, and a series of stunning achievements.
Space Race 2.0 follows the development of commercial space exploration to the present. While tentative first steps in private ventures are covered, such as those by Space Services Inc. and Orbital Science in the 1980s and ’90s, the focus is on today’s major SpaceX, Blue Origin (headed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos), and Virgin Galactic (founded by Richard Branson). While examining the hardware, Bergan also explores such considerations as the importance of design-forward equipment and the what ultimately is “in it” for firms at the forefront? Natural resources? NASA and ESA contracts? Commercial travel? Communications? And what legal boundaries, if any, restrain corporate interests in space?
Space Race 2.0 is the ultimate visual look at this relatively young industry, looking back at recent remarkable decades—and ahead to what the future might bring.
The private space sector is growing tremendously. The industry’s consensus leader, SpaceX, headed by outspoken billionaire Elon Musk, is today worth an estimated $74 billion. And SpaceX and its chief competitors, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic, are taking on more roles—flying cargo, supplies, and astronauts to outer space. Space Race 2.0 tells their story with expertly written text by science journalist Brad Bergan and stunning photography of the spacecraft, key players, and facilities in California, Texas, and Florida.
In the 1950s and ’60s, the first Space Race pitted two political ideologies against one either Communism or Capitalism would prove superior. Ultimately, the US landed on the moon, the race’s crowning achievement. Now, more than a half-century later, the Space Race has pivoted from a contest between ideological rivals to private aerospace firms competing for contracts.
Today, rather than symbolic goals motivated by patriotism, the defining success of a launch system extends beyond engineering and science to image and ROI. Founded in 2002, SpaceX’s trajectory was determined by Musk’s realization that he could achieve higher profits by vertically integrating—manufacturing his own rockets and spacecraft—rather than relying on third parties. The decision was prescient, resulting in a state-of-the-art headquarters in Hawthorne, California, and a series of stunning achievements.
Space Race 2.0 follows the development of commercial space exploration to the present. While tentative first steps in private ventures are covered, such as those by Space Services Inc. and Orbital Science in the 1980s and ’90s, the focus is on today’s major SpaceX, Blue Origin (headed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos), and Virgin Galactic (founded by Richard Branson). While examining the hardware, Bergan also explores such considerations as the importance of design-forward equipment and the what ultimately is “in it” for firms at the forefront? Natural resources? NASA and ESA contracts? Commercial travel? Communications? And what legal boundaries, if any, restrain corporate interests in space?
Space Race 2.0 is the ultimate visual look at this relatively young industry, looking back at recent remarkable decades—and ahead to what the future might bring.
176 pages, Hardcover
Published October 25, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
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November 18, 2022This is a stunning book. The included images are absolutely beautiful if you are interested in space shuttle history.
(Thanks to Net Galley & Brad Bergan for this Book).
(Thanks to Net Galley & Brad Bergan for this Book).
October 9, 2022
Everything you needed to know about the c**k-swinging nonsense that is the modern space race, but were afraid to ask. After a quick look at the formative business years of Bezos, Musk, and the barely-featuring Branson, this takes us through all the development stages of what they have and have not succeeded with doing. And it's all really unedifying (the activities, not the book). These are some of the world's least likeable people, doing untold things to the planet, all desperate to be able to colonise the moon, Mars and beyond, because they see the writing on the wall about resources and the environment down here. To that end we now have more internet satellites than we know what to do with, a NASA sinking down a rabbit-hole of public/private partnership that only works if you disguise all the subsidies the private side gets, and more than a few new holes in the ground – the ebullience with which Musk tw*ts his glee when another prototype incinerates is enough to make you question his sanity.
Highly pictorial, we get a lot of the hardware that has gone up – sadly too little of the schadenfreude when it comes right back down again – and all the plans for lunar bases, space hotels, and, I don't know – strip-mining asteroids for lithium to feed the electric car fallacy. And just when you turn another page hoping these idiots never live to see their wishes come true, we learn China is doing everything ten times worse. Dare I say "stop the world, I want to get off"?
Highly pictorial, we get a lot of the hardware that has gone up – sadly too little of the schadenfreude when it comes right back down again – and all the plans for lunar bases, space hotels, and, I don't know – strip-mining asteroids for lithium to feed the electric car fallacy. And just when you turn another page hoping these idiots never live to see their wishes come true, we learn China is doing everything ten times worse. Dare I say "stop the world, I want to get off"?
March 7, 2023
Overall a nice book giving a fair layout to the state of the space race as of the early 2020’s.
The conceptual art pics and photo pics included are beautiful and the double page spreads of some of these make the book a very pleasant experience. The contents are made more for beginners and new entrant readers into the space race and Brad writes in a way that is simple to understand. As well as it being nice to see Brad praise and include space progress from China, something people often leave out.
That said, for me, I found that he needlessly goes out of his way to snipe at the likes of Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos in ways that really should have nothing to do with the book and its contents on the Space Race. The author very much comes across as someone who is a fan of NASA and the Space Race but not the individuals leading the charge via private industry. The Author goes out of his way to write how there is speculation that Elon Musk got his wealth from family ties to a Diamond Mine, then includes the part from Elon that refutes it. If you cannot prove something either way and the main person you are writing about is refuting it, then don’t include it. The Author included it because he does not want people Like Elon and Jeff to be seen “Too” positively. With this tact you can write anything about anyone and so long as you have the famous “Alleged” saying. And then you get away with it.
The author actually wrote this: “So, if there’s no stopping human industry from going beyond self-sustainability like it often does on Earth, we should not try to jettison this minimally noble goal of not destroying the evidence of where we come from, what else is out there, and how the universe works for the comparably short-term goals of profit, luxury, and cosmic empire that likely motivate the space barons (for example, Musk changing his title at Tesla to “Technoking”).”
I mean how stupid can you be? To read into a playful name change from an immature yet down to earth billionaire nerd, who just finds it funny to move away from the corporate speak of “CEO” and makes his title Technoking. Brad Bergan attempting to make this symbolic of Elons secret desire to have his own empire is pathetically laughable. Not only this but Brad writes in the book early on how Elon and Jeff had this desire to explore space early in their childhoods, that they pushed through knowing the companies will likely fail but did so because the ultimate goal is to advance and protect humanity. But here he suggests that it is likely an adventure to get profit and luxuries. Is he for real? There are thousands of money making industries out there, pouring money it into rockets where by the trademark of progress is to fall forwards, is not the industry to “Get rich quick” from. This has been a costly endeavour for all private industry leaders and publicly humiliating when it does fail. If these people wanted a private empire of wealth, they would be off the grid on an island somewhere. They are not, they are the most public and accessible billionaires in the world.
Then towards the end, Brad essentially writes about whether we should even want to colonise other planets. Especially if those leading the charge are like that of Elon and Jeff. Yet is quite happy to endorse it when it is led by NASA who is attached to the biggest corruption gang in the world, the United States Government. So it seems to me that Brad is fascinated with the race, the technology and the prospects of space. But because of some sanctimonious position on these people leading the way, he is dampening to progress and casting backhanded compliments. The kind of stuff that reads “Elon musk (Controversial Twitter Owner) has successfully launched his Super Heavy rocket”. There is no need for it and it is weak.
Lastly I will say that he could have done with more interviews and sourcing from the companies and its employees rather than taking sources from other newspapers and media outlets. I think this book could be improved with more direct input from interviews conducted by Brad.
The conceptual art pics and photo pics included are beautiful and the double page spreads of some of these make the book a very pleasant experience. The contents are made more for beginners and new entrant readers into the space race and Brad writes in a way that is simple to understand. As well as it being nice to see Brad praise and include space progress from China, something people often leave out.
That said, for me, I found that he needlessly goes out of his way to snipe at the likes of Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos in ways that really should have nothing to do with the book and its contents on the Space Race. The author very much comes across as someone who is a fan of NASA and the Space Race but not the individuals leading the charge via private industry. The Author goes out of his way to write how there is speculation that Elon Musk got his wealth from family ties to a Diamond Mine, then includes the part from Elon that refutes it. If you cannot prove something either way and the main person you are writing about is refuting it, then don’t include it. The Author included it because he does not want people Like Elon and Jeff to be seen “Too” positively. With this tact you can write anything about anyone and so long as you have the famous “Alleged” saying. And then you get away with it.
The author actually wrote this: “So, if there’s no stopping human industry from going beyond self-sustainability like it often does on Earth, we should not try to jettison this minimally noble goal of not destroying the evidence of where we come from, what else is out there, and how the universe works for the comparably short-term goals of profit, luxury, and cosmic empire that likely motivate the space barons (for example, Musk changing his title at Tesla to “Technoking”).”
I mean how stupid can you be? To read into a playful name change from an immature yet down to earth billionaire nerd, who just finds it funny to move away from the corporate speak of “CEO” and makes his title Technoking. Brad Bergan attempting to make this symbolic of Elons secret desire to have his own empire is pathetically laughable. Not only this but Brad writes in the book early on how Elon and Jeff had this desire to explore space early in their childhoods, that they pushed through knowing the companies will likely fail but did so because the ultimate goal is to advance and protect humanity. But here he suggests that it is likely an adventure to get profit and luxuries. Is he for real? There are thousands of money making industries out there, pouring money it into rockets where by the trademark of progress is to fall forwards, is not the industry to “Get rich quick” from. This has been a costly endeavour for all private industry leaders and publicly humiliating when it does fail. If these people wanted a private empire of wealth, they would be off the grid on an island somewhere. They are not, they are the most public and accessible billionaires in the world.
Then towards the end, Brad essentially writes about whether we should even want to colonise other planets. Especially if those leading the charge are like that of Elon and Jeff. Yet is quite happy to endorse it when it is led by NASA who is attached to the biggest corruption gang in the world, the United States Government. So it seems to me that Brad is fascinated with the race, the technology and the prospects of space. But because of some sanctimonious position on these people leading the way, he is dampening to progress and casting backhanded compliments. The kind of stuff that reads “Elon musk (Controversial Twitter Owner) has successfully launched his Super Heavy rocket”. There is no need for it and it is weak.
Lastly I will say that he could have done with more interviews and sourcing from the companies and its employees rather than taking sources from other newspapers and media outlets. I think this book could be improved with more direct input from interviews conducted by Brad.
December 27, 2022
After watching "For All Mankind" on Apple TV, I found my old interest in space exploration reawakened. It's been too long since the glory days of the Apollo missions of my childhood. Somehow, the space shuttle program just didn't excite me the way trips to the moon did.
So I was pleasantly surprised to find this book offered by NetGalley. It's a good one. Gone are the overly cautious and hidebound days of the NASA bureaucracy, and they have been replaced by a bunch of exciting entrepreneurs, all of whom seem to be racing each other for success and glory. SpaceX, Blue Horizon, Virgin Galactic, all are making strides as well as waves. Sure, they're run by a bunch of 1%'ers. but no one else is stepping up to reinvigorate the space race. I say more power to them. And let's get going and get to Mars!
So I was pleasantly surprised to find this book offered by NetGalley. It's a good one. Gone are the overly cautious and hidebound days of the NASA bureaucracy, and they have been replaced by a bunch of exciting entrepreneurs, all of whom seem to be racing each other for success and glory. SpaceX, Blue Horizon, Virgin Galactic, all are making strides as well as waves. Sure, they're run by a bunch of 1%'ers. but no one else is stepping up to reinvigorate the space race. I say more power to them. And let's get going and get to Mars!
May 18, 2025
Increíble recorrido por el avance tecnológico de los viajes espaciales. Considerando las tres principales empresas privadas Musk (SpaceX), Branson (Virgin Galactic) y Bezos (Blue Origin).
aún sigo sin creer todo lo que Musk ha hecho realidad.
Desde las explicaciones, la forma de contarlo, la calidad de la información y las fotos hacen que este libro valga la pena.
Es una introducción a la exploración espacial, no me revelo información que no tuviera (soy una chica geek) pero me ayudo a fijar conceptos.
La privatización de los viajes espaciales de estados unidos fue un punto de inflexión, nunca se hubiera logrado llegar al punto donde están.
Destacable debate sobre si el espacio terminará siendo un destino turístico de las personas con alto poder, los desechos espaciales y quizás el deseo de extraer recursos del espacio.
Vuelvo a decir, sus fotografías son bellísimas.
Citas
■ “«Soy naturalmente bueno en la ingeniería [y] eso es porque lo heredé de mi padre. Lo que es muy difícil para los demás es fácil para mí», continuó Musk”. [Pág 22]
■ “Elon Musk quería que la nave espacial estuviera hecha de fibra de carbono, pero en enero de 2019, el CEO de SpaceX anunció que estaba girando para acero inoxidable. Es un material más pesado, lo que significa que se necesita más combustible para escapar de la gravedad de la Tierra. Musk también enfatizó las ventajas térmicas del acero inoxidable, lo que reduciría los costos en un período de tiempo más largo. Pero Starship ha visto más alteraciones del diseño desde 2019. Por ejemplo, el concepto inicial requería siete motores Raptor, que luego disminuyó a seis”. [Pág 139]
■ “Llamado el Tratado de la Luna, establece que los recursos espaciales solo pueden extraerse con la aprobación del mundo entero y deben compartirse de manera equitativa con la gente de la Tierra”. [Pág 263]
aún sigo sin creer todo lo que Musk ha hecho realidad.
Desde las explicaciones, la forma de contarlo, la calidad de la información y las fotos hacen que este libro valga la pena.
Es una introducción a la exploración espacial, no me revelo información que no tuviera (soy una chica geek) pero me ayudo a fijar conceptos.
La privatización de los viajes espaciales de estados unidos fue un punto de inflexión, nunca se hubiera logrado llegar al punto donde están.
Destacable debate sobre si el espacio terminará siendo un destino turístico de las personas con alto poder, los desechos espaciales y quizás el deseo de extraer recursos del espacio.
Vuelvo a decir, sus fotografías son bellísimas.
Citas
■ “«Soy naturalmente bueno en la ingeniería [y] eso es porque lo heredé de mi padre. Lo que es muy difícil para los demás es fácil para mí», continuó Musk”. [Pág 22]
■ “Elon Musk quería que la nave espacial estuviera hecha de fibra de carbono, pero en enero de 2019, el CEO de SpaceX anunció que estaba girando para acero inoxidable. Es un material más pesado, lo que significa que se necesita más combustible para escapar de la gravedad de la Tierra. Musk también enfatizó las ventajas térmicas del acero inoxidable, lo que reduciría los costos en un período de tiempo más largo. Pero Starship ha visto más alteraciones del diseño desde 2019. Por ejemplo, el concepto inicial requería siete motores Raptor, que luego disminuyó a seis”. [Pág 139]
■ “Llamado el Tratado de la Luna, establece que los recursos espaciales solo pueden extraerse con la aprobación del mundo entero y deben compartirse de manera equitativa con la gente de la Tierra”. [Pág 263]
June 15, 2022
Pre-ordered for Nov 2022.
Admission.... my rating might be biased by nepotism. 👨👦
Admission.... my rating might be biased by nepotism. 👨👦
July 9, 2023
Such a good book on space and the modern company’s. Focuses mostly on Spaces and blue origin. Sadly not much talked about VirginG but I read a great book on them this year so guess that’s ok.
May 23, 2026
It's a perfectly fine coffee table book, with lots of great glossy images, but I wanted more detail and definitely more discussion of the ethics of all this.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews