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Escaping Gravity: My Quest to Transform NASA and Launch a New Space Age
The inside look at how the battle of the space billionaires began and why it matters, Escaping Gravity is former NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver's firsthand account of how a handful of revolutionaries outmaneuvered the system of political patronage and bureaucracy that threatened the space agency. The success of Elon Musk's SpaceX, Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin, Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, and countless other commercial space efforts were preceded by decades of work by a group of people Garver calls space pirates.
As the head of the NASA transition team for President-elect Barack Obama and second-in-command of the agency, Garver drove policies and funding that enabled commercial competition just as the capabilities and resources of the private sector began to mature. She was determined to deliver more valuable programs, which required breaking the self-interested cycle controlled by Congress, the aerospace industry, entrenched bureaucrats, and hero-astronauts trying to protect their own profits and mythology.
Garver reveals how--like the military--the space industrial establishment preferred to spend billions of taxpayer dollars on programs aimed to sustain jobs and contracts in key congressional districts over those that were more efficient and could deliver greater progress. Garver details how her quest to transform NASA put her in the crosshairs of these established, powerful interests who viewed her as a threat to the system that has centralized and controlled power since the 1950s.
Including insider NASA conversations and insights on the epic battles that transitioned space access to private resources for a fraction of the cost, Escaping Gravity offers a blueprint for how to drive productive and meaningful government change.
As the head of the NASA transition team for President-elect Barack Obama and second-in-command of the agency, Garver drove policies and funding that enabled commercial competition just as the capabilities and resources of the private sector began to mature. She was determined to deliver more valuable programs, which required breaking the self-interested cycle controlled by Congress, the aerospace industry, entrenched bureaucrats, and hero-astronauts trying to protect their own profits and mythology.
Garver reveals how--like the military--the space industrial establishment preferred to spend billions of taxpayer dollars on programs aimed to sustain jobs and contracts in key congressional districts over those that were more efficient and could deliver greater progress. Garver details how her quest to transform NASA put her in the crosshairs of these established, powerful interests who viewed her as a threat to the system that has centralized and controlled power since the 1950s.
Including insider NASA conversations and insights on the epic battles that transitioned space access to private resources for a fraction of the cost, Escaping Gravity offers a blueprint for how to drive productive and meaningful government change.
1 pages, Audio CD
Published June 14, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 58 reviews
January 29, 2022
I feel really conflicted about this book. On the one hand, it’s an interesting look into the problems that kept NASA from advancing human space flight by highlighting Congressional interference to support their constituents and major aerospace industry donors. On the other hand, it mostly read as an ad hoc justification for actions taken by someone with an axe to grind. And yes, SpaceX has made tremendous contributions to advancing space flight, but I really wish this book had less praise for Elon Musk in it and was overall less of the argument that the future of space travel can only be achieved through the involvement of the super rich astronaut-wannabe billionaires. Especially given Elon Musk’s stupid and highly disruptive (in the sense of causing actual problems, not the trendy Silicon Valley sense) shiny satellite project.
Full disclosure: I was given an advanced copy for review.
Full disclosure: I was given an advanced copy for review.
June 29, 2022
NASA's directive has been along the lines of "Attention all Planets of the Solar Federation... We have assumed control" sixty five years ago, and are not about to let it go.
In this whistle blower, Lori Garver exposes the ineptitude and corruption behind the scenes at NASA. Even if one would doubt some of her claims about the way things have been run, they'd be hard-pressed then to explain the lack of progress at the Agency for the last fifty years, and the only recent impetus of NASA to actually initiate long-overdue projects. The most significant of these is commissioning the private sector to space launch and transport vehicles; also the long-overdue "be smarter than the dinosaurs" initiative for meteor and comet detection and deflection.
I think many Americans, mostly of older generations, don't believe in America's space program. They don't know why we (try to) go to space and think it's a giant waste of money. Others who are more in the know, on a spectator's level, are aware of NASA's ineptitude and corruption--we've read about numerous times; we're dismayed by the lack of progress. Some of the latter might even ask what NASA's purpose is today. Lori Garver managed to get the senior leadership of NASA together at one point and, with the help of "a world-renowned expert in helping organizations reach their aligned vision", craft a mission statement: "To Reach for New Heights and reveal the unknown... so that what we do and learn will benefit all humankind."
Unfortunately, Garver spits in the soup.
I don't agree with her white-man-hater mentality (though her husband appears to be white) for the same reason I don't agree with ethnicity and gender questions on job applications: those specifics have nothing to do with merit. I do understand why she feels the way she does, though. She experienced career-spanning shit that is unjust, and had a frightening experience in Russia. That said, perpetuating the zeitgeist and filling arbitrary quotas based on race and gender (even though she admits at one point that the reason there were less accepted black and female astronaut candidates because there was a small fraction of black and female applicants) is just as arcane and ignorant as much of the NASA culture Garver faced.
Equalizing the numbers of the respective races and genders for the sake of equalizing the numbers of the respective races and genders on a spreadsheet is stupid and perpetuates regression. "It's not the way to have the strongest crew", to use one of her antagonist's words. It's detrimental to efficiency, not to mention morale. These archaic views were disappointing to read after all the good Garver does in this book by exposing the corruption and expounding on all the progressive changes she advocated.
I was astonished (although perhaps I shouldn't have been--after all, I don't read The NY Times for a reason) to see a citation Garver uses of a 2021 New York Times propaganda piece praising Obama after the successful SpaceX launch--a 2021 article. (Need we wonder who's pulling the strings in the White House these days?)
Unfortunately people like Garver inextricably link certain positive advancements with their leftist extremism. Undoubtedly Garver's career-long endurance of Mad Men-type culture instilled intense resentment and "angst" (to use her own word) in her psyche, and distorted her otherwise good judgement.
And as a fun-fact side note, she's not very adroit with her awkward or nonsensical metaphors.
Garver also contradicts herself, a habit of her antagonists she was quick to point out. "NASA has the experience, organizational credibility, and expertise to contribute more to this [protecting the environment using legislation backed by data technologies] effort." Really?? After everything you've just said about NASA Mrs. Garver? (See almost entire book about accusations--which I bet are valid--on NASA's credibility.) Also "President Kennedy's speech... explained the challenge poetically: 'We set sail on this new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained... for the progress of all people'", after pointing out earlier that Kennedy admitted privately that he didn't care about space.
And Garver extensively quotes white man Carl Sagan and asked white man Walter Isaacson to write her introduction. Why, Mrs. Garver? Were there no women or black people available? Not a single individual without a Y chromosome or a person of color, in all the annals of literature of which to quote from, or presently around? That's 100% white men. Or perhaps Garver ditched her diversity requirement and chose these scholars' statements and prose based on their quality and merit. (The list of contradictions and other egregious statements goes on and on in the last few chapters.)
All said, there are real, positive reforms and initiatives Garver advocates for in this book, but pollutes them with her politics. You can take the good nutrition from the book and shit out the bad.
Hopefully the rational reforms espoused here prove to have their intended consequences and there'll be tangible progress by 2112!
In this whistle blower, Lori Garver exposes the ineptitude and corruption behind the scenes at NASA. Even if one would doubt some of her claims about the way things have been run, they'd be hard-pressed then to explain the lack of progress at the Agency for the last fifty years, and the only recent impetus of NASA to actually initiate long-overdue projects. The most significant of these is commissioning the private sector to space launch and transport vehicles; also the long-overdue "be smarter than the dinosaurs" initiative for meteor and comet detection and deflection.
I think many Americans, mostly of older generations, don't believe in America's space program. They don't know why we (try to) go to space and think it's a giant waste of money. Others who are more in the know, on a spectator's level, are aware of NASA's ineptitude and corruption--we've read about numerous times; we're dismayed by the lack of progress. Some of the latter might even ask what NASA's purpose is today. Lori Garver managed to get the senior leadership of NASA together at one point and, with the help of "a world-renowned expert in helping organizations reach their aligned vision", craft a mission statement: "To Reach for New Heights and reveal the unknown... so that what we do and learn will benefit all humankind."
Unfortunately, Garver spits in the soup.
I don't agree with her white-man-hater mentality (though her husband appears to be white) for the same reason I don't agree with ethnicity and gender questions on job applications: those specifics have nothing to do with merit. I do understand why she feels the way she does, though. She experienced career-spanning shit that is unjust, and had a frightening experience in Russia. That said, perpetuating the zeitgeist and filling arbitrary quotas based on race and gender (even though she admits at one point that the reason there were less accepted black and female astronaut candidates because there was a small fraction of black and female applicants) is just as arcane and ignorant as much of the NASA culture Garver faced.
Equalizing the numbers of the respective races and genders for the sake of equalizing the numbers of the respective races and genders on a spreadsheet is stupid and perpetuates regression. "It's not the way to have the strongest crew", to use one of her antagonist's words. It's detrimental to efficiency, not to mention morale. These archaic views were disappointing to read after all the good Garver does in this book by exposing the corruption and expounding on all the progressive changes she advocated.
I was astonished (although perhaps I shouldn't have been--after all, I don't read The NY Times for a reason) to see a citation Garver uses of a 2021 New York Times propaganda piece praising Obama after the successful SpaceX launch--a 2021 article. (Need we wonder who's pulling the strings in the White House these days?)
Unfortunately people like Garver inextricably link certain positive advancements with their leftist extremism. Undoubtedly Garver's career-long endurance of Mad Men-type culture instilled intense resentment and "angst" (to use her own word) in her psyche, and distorted her otherwise good judgement.
And as a fun-fact side note, she's not very adroit with her awkward or nonsensical metaphors.
Garver also contradicts herself, a habit of her antagonists she was quick to point out. "NASA has the experience, organizational credibility, and expertise to contribute more to this [protecting the environment using legislation backed by data technologies] effort." Really?? After everything you've just said about NASA Mrs. Garver? (See almost entire book about accusations--which I bet are valid--on NASA's credibility.) Also "President Kennedy's speech... explained the challenge poetically: 'We set sail on this new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained... for the progress of all people'", after pointing out earlier that Kennedy admitted privately that he didn't care about space.
And Garver extensively quotes white man Carl Sagan and asked white man Walter Isaacson to write her introduction. Why, Mrs. Garver? Were there no women or black people available? Not a single individual without a Y chromosome or a person of color, in all the annals of literature of which to quote from, or presently around? That's 100% white men. Or perhaps Garver ditched her diversity requirement and chose these scholars' statements and prose based on their quality and merit. (The list of contradictions and other egregious statements goes on and on in the last few chapters.)
All said, there are real, positive reforms and initiatives Garver advocates for in this book, but pollutes them with her politics. You can take the good nutrition from the book and shit out the bad.
Hopefully the rational reforms espoused here prove to have their intended consequences and there'll be tangible progress by 2112!
November 30, 2024
Lori Garver (b. 1961) has had a long career in space policy, with her highest position being the deputy administrator (2nd highest political appointee) of NASA for President Obama's first term. She's been a long-time advocate of the commercialization of space flight, with her position being vindicated in recent years as productive collaborations between NASA and commercial players like Elon Musk-founded SpaceX have re-enabled American astronauts to launch from the US after the discontinuation of the shuttle program (especially important in the current geopolitical climate with the US's reliance on Russian Soyuz vehicles a tricky proposition). As I gravitate toward books about space exploration (pun intended), I was naturally excited to hear Garver's take, especially as she's been a powerful woman in this mostly male-dominated arena.
Unfortunately, Garver made the extremely poor choice throughout her memoir/policy credo book of constantly airing her own grievances, complaining incessantly, riding high on vitriol and pettiness, playing the victim card, grandstanding, mocking, and throwing others under the bus. There's a reason that publicists and book editors warn against this -- because it ultimately reflects poorly back onto the author, regardless of whether the author is completely justified and correct or not. See these excerpts below:
and
and
I have read a lot of memoirs written by people in the public eye who've addressed the criticism they've faced in much more gracious, circumspect, and self-aware ways, and I wish Garver had learned this lesson. A lot of Garver's anger is about how she was treated as a woman, which I think is very valid (as a fellow woman in STEM who's faced similar issues), but I'd ask readers to compare and contrast how she dealt with the prejudices and misconceptions she faced as compared to other prominent women space pioneers like Sally Ride (Sally Ride: America's First Woman in Space), Eileen Collins (Through the Glass Ceiling to the Stars: The Story of the First American Woman to Command a Space Mission), and Cady Coleman (Sharing Space: An Astronaut's Guide to Mission, Wonder, and Making Change).
Further reading: commercial space exploration
The Space Barons: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the Quest to Colonize the Cosmos by Christian Davenport
Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger
When the Heavens Went on Sale: The Misfits and Geniuses Racing to Put Space Within Reach by Ashlee Vance
My statistics:
Book 291 for 2023
Book 1894 cumulatively
Unfortunately, Garver made the extremely poor choice throughout her memoir/policy credo book of constantly airing her own grievances, complaining incessantly, riding high on vitriol and pettiness, playing the victim card, grandstanding, mocking, and throwing others under the bus. There's a reason that publicists and book editors warn against this -- because it ultimately reflects poorly back onto the author, regardless of whether the author is completely justified and correct or not. See these excerpts below:
Ed’s description of me as a Bond-like villain connected to the commercial world is a nonsensical attempt to deflect his own complicity. His accusation that I was going around Charlie was, in reality, what he had done himself. Ed was the person responsible for shooting ESA in the face. He’d run the risk of making commitments of taxpayer funds without authority, likely intending to trap the US government into doing what he wanted. Ed had been learning how to be a practitioner of the dark arts for thirty-five years, and had become an expert.
and
Many who disagreed with my views attacked me with vulgar, gendered language, degradation, and physical threats. I’ve been called an ugly whore, a motherfucking bitch, and a cunt; told I need to get laid, and asked if I’m on my period or going through menopause. Bundled emails were sent to members and staff on the Hill and throughout the aerospace community from a group calling itself Change NASA Now, aimed at having me removed from my position
and
Success has a thousand fathers, and failure is an orphan. I am elated that so many people are now supporting the transformational initiatives that they previously barely failed to sabotage. It was fully within Congress’s right to question the new concept, but their unwillingness to get onboard with President Obama’s proposal in favor of extending massive aerospace contracts, is a matter of public record. It has been humorous and gratifying to watch the program’s former adversaries run to get on the fast-moving train headed in a different direction than the one for which they’d bought a ticket.
I have read a lot of memoirs written by people in the public eye who've addressed the criticism they've faced in much more gracious, circumspect, and self-aware ways, and I wish Garver had learned this lesson. A lot of Garver's anger is about how she was treated as a woman, which I think is very valid (as a fellow woman in STEM who's faced similar issues), but I'd ask readers to compare and contrast how she dealt with the prejudices and misconceptions she faced as compared to other prominent women space pioneers like Sally Ride (Sally Ride: America's First Woman in Space), Eileen Collins (Through the Glass Ceiling to the Stars: The Story of the First American Woman to Command a Space Mission), and Cady Coleman (Sharing Space: An Astronaut's Guide to Mission, Wonder, and Making Change).
Further reading: commercial space exploration
The Space Barons: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the Quest to Colonize the Cosmos by Christian Davenport
Liftoff: Elon Musk and the Desperate Early Days That Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger
When the Heavens Went on Sale: The Misfits and Geniuses Racing to Put Space Within Reach by Ashlee Vance
My statistics:
Book 291 for 2023
Book 1894 cumulatively
June 20, 2022
While I’ve followed NASA’s strange focus on SLS, and disregard for commercial launch prociders, I couldn’t have imagined how tough a fight it’s been to get NASA change to even as much as it’s changed to date. NASA doesn’t come off well in this telling. While a lot of the attitudes have been gleaned from the outside, it’s a different thing to read a first hand account.
June 30, 2022
As the author states in her afterword, memoirs of NASA political leadership are rare. The book offers an outstanding insight in to how the nation's space policy gets made -- or, more frequently, unmade. If you, like many, have wondered why we seem to keep spending money on space and yet somehow less gets done, this book will give you insight in to why. While not a formal history in the style of _The Heavens and the Earth_, _Escaping Gravity_ succeeds in conveying something of the spirit of the times and the political struggles that were in play in developing both Commercial Cargo and Commercial Crew capabilities to be used by NASA, as well as the ultimately failed struggle to avoid building a large rocket by and for the government to be used for government purposes.
I was a participant in my own small way in some of the battles discussed in the book and while of course we all had different perspectives, to the best of my recollection, the author conveys them accurately.
As it happens, I know the author, though we couldn't be further apart politically, and I found it interesting and somewhat distracting to see how our different political lenses lead to different interpretations of events; certainly when it comes to wishes for what priorities we might wish for government and for NASA in the future, there is a good deal of space between us. But we share a desire that NASA can and should use its resources more effectively, and that it can and should do more for the nation than it has been able to do of late.
Absolutely worth reading if you want to look inside the shiny facade of U.S. civil space efforts and see how 'the sausage gets made'.
I was a participant in my own small way in some of the battles discussed in the book and while of course we all had different perspectives, to the best of my recollection, the author conveys them accurately.
As it happens, I know the author, though we couldn't be further apart politically, and I found it interesting and somewhat distracting to see how our different political lenses lead to different interpretations of events; certainly when it comes to wishes for what priorities we might wish for government and for NASA in the future, there is a good deal of space between us. But we share a desire that NASA can and should use its resources more effectively, and that it can and should do more for the nation than it has been able to do of late.
Absolutely worth reading if you want to look inside the shiny facade of U.S. civil space efforts and see how 'the sausage gets made'.
August 10, 2022
Do not waste your time on this book. This woman is full of herself. She was not qualified for any job at NASA much less deputy administrator. I can't imagine what led President Obama to appoint her but she was a fish out of water. This entire book is simply her lambasting the people in the program who actually are qualified for their jobs, claiming sexism, constantly referring to those who opposed her policies as boys in a tree house or something similar. Apparently she is completely clueless as to her own sexism. Being a feminist does not mean you have to constantly put down the opposite sex. If you have confidence in your own ability and qualifications, there is no need to be defensive. As I said, she was a fish out of water. In the Introduction, there is a clue of what is to come when she attacks Senator Bill Nelson as a "lifetime politician." Nelson was born in Florida and basically saw the beginning of the space program as a young teenager. It has been a part of his very life. He went to A+ schools, including Yale, whereas Garver got a degree in "political economy and international studies" at George Washington in D.C. How on earth does a degree in social studies qualify you to be assistant administrator at NASA? It doesn't, but apparently working on the Transition Team for President Obama after he won the 2008 election qualified her in his eyes.
The entire book is nothing but swipes at people who opposed her policies. She even took a swipe at Sally Ride's personal life! I would not recommend this book unless you have a fascination with huge egos and are interested in reading 249 pages of just plain spite, defensiveness and antimasculine drivel. So glad I waited for the library copy and did not invest any money on this claptrap.
The entire book is nothing but swipes at people who opposed her policies. She even took a swipe at Sally Ride's personal life! I would not recommend this book unless you have a fascination with huge egos and are interested in reading 249 pages of just plain spite, defensiveness and antimasculine drivel. So glad I waited for the library copy and did not invest any money on this claptrap.
July 23, 2022
This book takes few prisoners. Not only discusses what works and doesn't in NASA - admittedly one woman's perspective and assessment - but calls out by name those who she was often at odds with.
More than a simple score settling, the book well-describes the annual budget-driven mating dance between government, Congress and well vested contractors. Not the boring details but the tension over long term space policy concerning where we should go, what we should do and how to get there.
One can't help but feel that the US squandered time and money (50 years and over $1T) and could point back to the very success of the Apollo program in the late 60's/early 70's. NASA and Congress and most particularly the contractors, fell in love with manned space missions.
That was the mission - putting humans into space. There was very little being accomplished beyond that and no coherent space story formed the basis for what we have been doing. It could have been about exploration, as we have seen with Hubble and JWST. Yes, Hubble needed repair by a human, so there's that. But, the majority of the human presence and particularly the dilemma of lifting them into space....? The astronaut union is very strong.
The book gives not only context to the above policy arguments but insight into how power plays out among the various stakeholders. The author being at odds with most in some fashion brings the story along her lines of interest. It's not a dull read. I admire her telling what she experienced.
More than a simple score settling, the book well-describes the annual budget-driven mating dance between government, Congress and well vested contractors. Not the boring details but the tension over long term space policy concerning where we should go, what we should do and how to get there.
One can't help but feel that the US squandered time and money (50 years and over $1T) and could point back to the very success of the Apollo program in the late 60's/early 70's. NASA and Congress and most particularly the contractors, fell in love with manned space missions.
That was the mission - putting humans into space. There was very little being accomplished beyond that and no coherent space story formed the basis for what we have been doing. It could have been about exploration, as we have seen with Hubble and JWST. Yes, Hubble needed repair by a human, so there's that. But, the majority of the human presence and particularly the dilemma of lifting them into space....? The astronaut union is very strong.
The book gives not only context to the above policy arguments but insight into how power plays out among the various stakeholders. The author being at odds with most in some fashion brings the story along her lines of interest. It's not a dull read. I admire her telling what she experienced.
August 6, 2025
This was a fascinating read. I'm coming to it from the perspective of having to deal with some of the negative consequences of SpaceX's work, in particular the Starlink satellite constellation that interferes a lot with astronomical observations, including telescope projects that I work on. The book doesn't address that directly, but helps me to understand the wider context that led to SpaceX having a major role in space activities, and NASA support (or, often through the history described in this book, opposition) for their activities.
It is very damning of government bureaucracies and overspend, particularly through NASA, which is hard to read as a fan of NASA - but it makes sense if you read through the arguments presented here. The 'space pirates' and commercial mission arguments also make a lot more sense after reading this book - why were the earlier engagements with industry nowhere near as productive as SpaceX and others have become? - but the wider impact of these activities (environmental, space sustainability, astronomy impact) aren't covered, and they are big issues.
It does often turn into a bit of a rant, but for good reasons. The dysfunctional leadership issues at NASA are clearly portrayed, along with their intrinsic sexism. The 'Tech Bro' aspects of the commercial mission work are only briefly covered, though, which is a shame as they can be equally problematic in practice.
Overall, a solid 4/5 - really interesting, so much that it's led me to write what I think this is my first Goodreads review, but it missed considering some big consequences.
It is very damning of government bureaucracies and overspend, particularly through NASA, which is hard to read as a fan of NASA - but it makes sense if you read through the arguments presented here. The 'space pirates' and commercial mission arguments also make a lot more sense after reading this book - why were the earlier engagements with industry nowhere near as productive as SpaceX and others have become? - but the wider impact of these activities (environmental, space sustainability, astronomy impact) aren't covered, and they are big issues.
It does often turn into a bit of a rant, but for good reasons. The dysfunctional leadership issues at NASA are clearly portrayed, along with their intrinsic sexism. The 'Tech Bro' aspects of the commercial mission work are only briefly covered, though, which is a shame as they can be equally problematic in practice.
Overall, a solid 4/5 - really interesting, so much that it's led me to write what I think this is my first Goodreads review, but it missed considering some big consequences.
September 28, 2022
I don't know from where the critics to supposed praise to Elon Musk or SpaceX comes from in many reviews that I read about this book, and even if they were, aren't deserved?
It looks like people don't like the hard true, the one which wil tell you that bureaucracy has sunk NASA and this isn't something specifically to NASA, everybody reads everyday about how the congress do something that should be illegal.
The praise that you can find in this book it's about how the private sector has accomplished what was supposed to be accomplish with the help of NASA years ago. The autor talk about different enterprises but obviously talk more about SpaceX than others -and just a little bit- because SpaceX has done more.
I don't event understand how the autor didn't talk about how SpaceX it's also revolutionizing the media information around development of rocket science, as this is the first company that we can follow and see all the test and launches in real time, including the failures, the iterations and more.
So read this books as what it's, a constructive criticism to the establishment overall inside NASA and how this can be overcome to use better your tax money.
It looks like people don't like the hard true, the one which wil tell you that bureaucracy has sunk NASA and this isn't something specifically to NASA, everybody reads everyday about how the congress do something that should be illegal.
The praise that you can find in this book it's about how the private sector has accomplished what was supposed to be accomplish with the help of NASA years ago. The autor talk about different enterprises but obviously talk more about SpaceX than others -and just a little bit- because SpaceX has done more.
I don't event understand how the autor didn't talk about how SpaceX it's also revolutionizing the media information around development of rocket science, as this is the first company that we can follow and see all the test and launches in real time, including the failures, the iterations and more.
So read this books as what it's, a constructive criticism to the establishment overall inside NASA and how this can be overcome to use better your tax money.
November 29, 2022
Provides some interesting insights into the space program. Garver is not much of a storyteller and seems to see herself as the sole person attempting to follow the administration’s directives. She also certainly doesn’t seem to like her co-workers and I found that offputting. But some interesting food for thought on what it takes to be a “disrupter” in government.
July 28, 2022
Starts strong, but by the end sounds whiny. Congratulates capitalistic entrepreneurs for transforming how NASA achieves progress in ita mission, but then vilified these same people. Overall, left a bad taste in my mouth.
March 14, 2023
Somewhat of a trudge to read at times but valuable insight to NASA in the late 2000's/early 2010's and specifically the commercial cargo and commercial crew programs
October 21, 2022
I have finished reading “Escaping Gravity: My Quest to Transform NASA and Launch a New Space Age” by Lori Garver.
Lori Garver was the Deputy Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) who was appointed by US President Barack Obama. She served in this post between 17th July 2009 – 6th September 2013. This book is an account of her time working in this role, her earlier career and her thoughts about the future of human spaceflight.
It is fair to say that there is at least as much politics in this book as there is about the development of human adventures in space. The author illustrates that in many ways this is very much the problem. While the author has been involved in politics in some capacity for much of her life, this book is mainly an account of political self interest getting in the way of innovation.
Lori Garver is very forthright about her views on human-crewed spaceflight. In her view, the development of it is necessary for mankind to survive and ultimately thrive. However, her long held concern is that NASA is too institutionally conservative to deliver the innovation needed to take spaceflight to the next level. Even worse, too many political actors have interests lined up against it. The political friction even got to a point where she received death threats.
The real detonating causing the political blow up was the introduction of private sector involvement in spaceflight. This was seen by the opposition within NASA and US Congress as a direct challenge to funding NASA spaceflight building projects. In truth, they weren’t entirely wrong about this. The Constellation rocket Project had a lot of contracts with jobs attached which resided in many Congressmen’s constituencies. This added up to a lot of political interest against change. However, Constellation was a long delayed white elephant project based on old technology which overran while it sucked in billions of dollars. Constellation wasn’t really cancelled. It merely transformed into what became the Space Launch System (SLS). It is less charitably called the Senate Launch System by Lori and others, but I can’t say I blame them.
Lori Garver makes a long but convincing case that NASA has turned into an echo chamber resistant to reform. The author points out that former astronauts have not always had the most forward thinking ideas about the agency’s future. Unfortunately, not only have these issues led to projects relying on old technology but it has also resulted in two Space Shuttles accidents (Challenger and Colombia).
Lori Garver is not shy about naming people she disagreed with and opposed the budget opening a door to commercial spaceflights. Charlie Bolden, the Administrator who was her boss, is frequently mentioned and their disagreements are frankly discussed. However, I would say that she was careful to stay respectful of him, which I would say was very charitable given his behaviour which was not collegiate in my opinion.
Overall, I enjoyed this book as a fun and frank insight into the US Space Industry. The author makes her case clearly and passionately. Even if one does not believe her full expose of NASA, there does at least seem to be a case made for improving transparency between the agency and the US Government. What I personally found quite stunning was the amounts of public money being thrown around in public debates. Millions and billions were frequently discussed in negotiations between the US Presidency, NASA and Congress. Lori Garver makes a convincing argument that her main concern was public money being put to the best use. After laying out histories of NASA in-house project delays compared to the impressive short history of Space X this case is not hard to appreciate. The backdoor manoeuvring propagated by the NASA leadership, with the exception of Lori, in order to go ahead with “Plan B” (known today as the SLS or Artemis rocket), definitely has the feel of old school political scheming.
Lori Garver’s passion for space travel radiates out the pages to the point where I felt enthused. While there is almost certainly bad blood between Lori Garver and some of her former colleagues, I don’t get the sense that this account was written for revenge. The author makes a genuine case for make the US Space industry more competitive, inclusive and innovative. She very cleverly references at the start and end of her book the dangerous and sometimes insidious influence of the military-industrial complex as mentioned famous by former US President Dwight D Eisenhower. The implication being that democratically elected representatives are conspiring with them to keep contracts and jobs running. Even at the cost of keeping US Spaceflight on an upward trajectory. In the end Lori Garver’s message is that true democracy and spaceflight development go hand in hand.
Lori Garver was the Deputy Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) who was appointed by US President Barack Obama. She served in this post between 17th July 2009 – 6th September 2013. This book is an account of her time working in this role, her earlier career and her thoughts about the future of human spaceflight.
It is fair to say that there is at least as much politics in this book as there is about the development of human adventures in space. The author illustrates that in many ways this is very much the problem. While the author has been involved in politics in some capacity for much of her life, this book is mainly an account of political self interest getting in the way of innovation.
Lori Garver is very forthright about her views on human-crewed spaceflight. In her view, the development of it is necessary for mankind to survive and ultimately thrive. However, her long held concern is that NASA is too institutionally conservative to deliver the innovation needed to take spaceflight to the next level. Even worse, too many political actors have interests lined up against it. The political friction even got to a point where she received death threats.
The real detonating causing the political blow up was the introduction of private sector involvement in spaceflight. This was seen by the opposition within NASA and US Congress as a direct challenge to funding NASA spaceflight building projects. In truth, they weren’t entirely wrong about this. The Constellation rocket Project had a lot of contracts with jobs attached which resided in many Congressmen’s constituencies. This added up to a lot of political interest against change. However, Constellation was a long delayed white elephant project based on old technology which overran while it sucked in billions of dollars. Constellation wasn’t really cancelled. It merely transformed into what became the Space Launch System (SLS). It is less charitably called the Senate Launch System by Lori and others, but I can’t say I blame them.
Lori Garver makes a long but convincing case that NASA has turned into an echo chamber resistant to reform. The author points out that former astronauts have not always had the most forward thinking ideas about the agency’s future. Unfortunately, not only have these issues led to projects relying on old technology but it has also resulted in two Space Shuttles accidents (Challenger and Colombia).
Lori Garver is not shy about naming people she disagreed with and opposed the budget opening a door to commercial spaceflights. Charlie Bolden, the Administrator who was her boss, is frequently mentioned and their disagreements are frankly discussed. However, I would say that she was careful to stay respectful of him, which I would say was very charitable given his behaviour which was not collegiate in my opinion.
Overall, I enjoyed this book as a fun and frank insight into the US Space Industry. The author makes her case clearly and passionately. Even if one does not believe her full expose of NASA, there does at least seem to be a case made for improving transparency between the agency and the US Government. What I personally found quite stunning was the amounts of public money being thrown around in public debates. Millions and billions were frequently discussed in negotiations between the US Presidency, NASA and Congress. Lori Garver makes a convincing argument that her main concern was public money being put to the best use. After laying out histories of NASA in-house project delays compared to the impressive short history of Space X this case is not hard to appreciate. The backdoor manoeuvring propagated by the NASA leadership, with the exception of Lori, in order to go ahead with “Plan B” (known today as the SLS or Artemis rocket), definitely has the feel of old school political scheming.
Lori Garver’s passion for space travel radiates out the pages to the point where I felt enthused. While there is almost certainly bad blood between Lori Garver and some of her former colleagues, I don’t get the sense that this account was written for revenge. The author makes a genuine case for make the US Space industry more competitive, inclusive and innovative. She very cleverly references at the start and end of her book the dangerous and sometimes insidious influence of the military-industrial complex as mentioned famous by former US President Dwight D Eisenhower. The implication being that democratically elected representatives are conspiring with them to keep contracts and jobs running. Even at the cost of keeping US Spaceflight on an upward trajectory. In the end Lori Garver’s message is that true democracy and spaceflight development go hand in hand.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Read
September 16, 2025disappointing :-(
August 3, 2022
I misguidedly thought this was going to be a more general history of the space program (specifically Commercial Crew and one person's view into it) and so went into this with extremely high expectations. While she definitely spends time on Commercial Crew, it's less of a history so much as it is her very specific view point of it, and comes off as whiny at times. I understand it was a very difficult program to push forward for her, but I guess I was hoping for a more factual account than "I did this, I tried to do that, Charlie wouldn't do that, Charlie stopped me from this" and then later on "Charlie took all the credit".
Not a bad book, just not what I was expecting.
Not a bad book, just not what I was expecting.
July 16, 2022
Escaping Gravity, My Quest to Transform NASA and Launch a New Space Age
Lori Garver, 2022
Liftoff, the book by Eric Berger, told the story of how Elon Musk took a small team of engineers, rented a vacant warehouse in Hawthorne, CA, transformed the technology of rocketry and from this inauspicious beginning turned his company into the low cost, preeminent launch service company of the world today. There is another half to this story, a person in a position of power at NASA who paved the way for SpaceX to disrupt the space, political, industrial complex at NASA and start a new era is space exploration. This is the story of Lori Garver, deputy director of NASA during the Obama administration and how she prevailed through perseverance and with the courage to endure the slings and arrows that would come her way, not only because she challenged the system but because she was a woman in a position of power within a bureaucracy of male preeminence.
NASA, was founded in 1958, the age of Sputnik, Yuri Gagarin and the birth of the space age. Its cold war mission was to outcompete the Soviets almost regardless of cost considerations. The Apollo program, which became the very cornerstone of NASA’s creds and identity, was a race to become first to the moon. My connection with NASA comes from this period in the mid-sixties when as a young graduate engineer, I ended up working for aerospace contractors, first at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville Alabama and then at the Apollo launch complex at the Cape. My awe-struck impression of the time was of a colossal program both in terms of personnel, scads of redundant engineers, tons of paperwork, and monstrous hardware with a 55-story huge rocket assembly building, 5000 ton, 400 foot tall launch umbilical towers, transported with rocket to the launch pad three miles away by immense crawling machines 4 stories in height. Would it work? I had my doubts at the time, but by the allocation of huge resources and gutsy decision-making and pure determination it succeeded ahead of schedule and wowed the world. This was the momentous and myth-making birth of NASA. After this amazing start what would NASA’s mission and legacy be for the next five decades? It turns out the birth would determine the future. “In the 1960’s- a civilian space agency – was tasked with essentially a military objective as an instrument of the Cold War. This linkage increased NASA’s budget immensely but also drove the fledgling space agency’s culture toward building and operating its own large engineering projects and away from more universal investments in technical innovation and scientific research. The massive institutional bureaucracy and industry interests developed for Apollo required exorbitant fixed costs just to be maintained. Once in place, legacy interests were naturally conditioned to seek missions and goals that could use the same infrastructure and similarly motivated workforce. The space-industrial complex became a victim of its own success.” The agency is described in the book as having become, “A giant self-licking icecream cone”, in other words an agency whose primary mission was to feed its participants and hangers-on, secondary mission was to produce enough results so that the feeding could continue.
Lori Garver came to the agency in 2008, at a time when it was clear the Shuttle had not fulfilled its promise as an economical portal to space and was reaching the end of its useful life. A replacement for the shuttle program called Constellation had been generously funded since 1989 with a mandate from subsequent administrations to return to the moon but the program had been mired in cost overruns, slipped schedules and backward-looking concepts for decades. This is the world that Lori found herself in as Deputy Administrator, the second most powerful position in the agency. Her conundrum was how to fund break-through game-changing, status quo threatening technologies while at the same time feeding the cone licking bureaucratic and contractor establishment so as not to threaten her position. In 2010, a possible person to take on the establishment, disrupt the status quo, emerged in the figure of Elon Musk. His company SpaceX which had just come off the successful orbital launch of his Falcon 1 rocket in 2009 and Falcon 9 in 2010. Two fixed-price contracts were let to supply the ISS, with over 2 billion dollars going to ULA, Boeing and Lockheed, to feed the establishment, the other at the urging of Lori, to SpaceX at roughly half the amount to launch 12 missions to the ISS. In 2012 Musk was first to deliver supplies to the ISS. The fight to let private contractors deliver astronauts to the station was a more protracted and bitter battle. A huge portion of NASA’s budget went to NASA’s own Space Launch System, SLS. A relatively small part was reserved for a nascent Commercial Crew program to let private contractors bid on fixed price contracts to send supplies and crew to the ISS. As with the supply contract, the larger part of the contract was awarded to ULA, a smaller portion to SpaceX. As Garver explains: “The deal set a competition in motion between the government and the private sector, the dinosaurs, and the furry mammals. The mammals would compete among themselves and do so while surviving on the dinosaur’s scraps. I knew they would be successful. But I hoped it wouldn’t be on evolutionary time scales”. Her advocacy for SpaceX led to the deriding accusation within political circles and NASA that Elon Musk was her boy. She really picked the right boy. Since the award of the Crew program, SpaceX has delivered 20 supply missions to the ISS and 4 crews to the ISS. ULA so far has delivered no crewed missions. Since 2016 SpaceX has perfected the recovery and refurbishment of 1st stage rockets leading to a dramatic decrease in launch costs leading to today, SpaceX being the preeminent commercial and military launch service provider in the world.
By allocating a relatively minor portion of NASA’s budget to commercial space flight, a deputy administrator at NASA helped revolutionize the space launch business not only at NASA and the military but around the world. Meanwhile business as usual still proceeds at NASA. “A 2021 report estimates that the Artemis program will have cost the US taxpayers 96 billion through 2025, even though a landing on the Moon by then is not possible. NASA spent just twice that in comparison year dollars for the entire Apollo program. NASA’s Saturn V lunar rocket launched twelve missions, ten with crew, over 5 years. At best, the SLS will launch two to three times in five years. The Agency is ordering them through the decade and spending billions more on upgrades to take astronauts to Mars in the 2030’s. Thankfully, while the dinosaurs devour the last leaves on the high treetops, the furry mammals have continued to evolve.” As Garver points out almost the same capability that the SLS will provide is available right now with the Falcon 9 heavy rocket at a launch cost of 150 million.
As with the Military Industrial complex, The Space Industrial complex points to an innate tendency of bureaucracies to become as she called them: “Self-licking icecream cones”. Thankfully our system also produces reformers and disrupters, as in this case, Lori Garver and Elon Musk. Both books, Liftoff and Escaping Gravity, tell their story. JACK
Lori Garver, 2022
Liftoff, the book by Eric Berger, told the story of how Elon Musk took a small team of engineers, rented a vacant warehouse in Hawthorne, CA, transformed the technology of rocketry and from this inauspicious beginning turned his company into the low cost, preeminent launch service company of the world today. There is another half to this story, a person in a position of power at NASA who paved the way for SpaceX to disrupt the space, political, industrial complex at NASA and start a new era is space exploration. This is the story of Lori Garver, deputy director of NASA during the Obama administration and how she prevailed through perseverance and with the courage to endure the slings and arrows that would come her way, not only because she challenged the system but because she was a woman in a position of power within a bureaucracy of male preeminence.
NASA, was founded in 1958, the age of Sputnik, Yuri Gagarin and the birth of the space age. Its cold war mission was to outcompete the Soviets almost regardless of cost considerations. The Apollo program, which became the very cornerstone of NASA’s creds and identity, was a race to become first to the moon. My connection with NASA comes from this period in the mid-sixties when as a young graduate engineer, I ended up working for aerospace contractors, first at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville Alabama and then at the Apollo launch complex at the Cape. My awe-struck impression of the time was of a colossal program both in terms of personnel, scads of redundant engineers, tons of paperwork, and monstrous hardware with a 55-story huge rocket assembly building, 5000 ton, 400 foot tall launch umbilical towers, transported with rocket to the launch pad three miles away by immense crawling machines 4 stories in height. Would it work? I had my doubts at the time, but by the allocation of huge resources and gutsy decision-making and pure determination it succeeded ahead of schedule and wowed the world. This was the momentous and myth-making birth of NASA. After this amazing start what would NASA’s mission and legacy be for the next five decades? It turns out the birth would determine the future. “In the 1960’s- a civilian space agency – was tasked with essentially a military objective as an instrument of the Cold War. This linkage increased NASA’s budget immensely but also drove the fledgling space agency’s culture toward building and operating its own large engineering projects and away from more universal investments in technical innovation and scientific research. The massive institutional bureaucracy and industry interests developed for Apollo required exorbitant fixed costs just to be maintained. Once in place, legacy interests were naturally conditioned to seek missions and goals that could use the same infrastructure and similarly motivated workforce. The space-industrial complex became a victim of its own success.” The agency is described in the book as having become, “A giant self-licking icecream cone”, in other words an agency whose primary mission was to feed its participants and hangers-on, secondary mission was to produce enough results so that the feeding could continue.
Lori Garver came to the agency in 2008, at a time when it was clear the Shuttle had not fulfilled its promise as an economical portal to space and was reaching the end of its useful life. A replacement for the shuttle program called Constellation had been generously funded since 1989 with a mandate from subsequent administrations to return to the moon but the program had been mired in cost overruns, slipped schedules and backward-looking concepts for decades. This is the world that Lori found herself in as Deputy Administrator, the second most powerful position in the agency. Her conundrum was how to fund break-through game-changing, status quo threatening technologies while at the same time feeding the cone licking bureaucratic and contractor establishment so as not to threaten her position. In 2010, a possible person to take on the establishment, disrupt the status quo, emerged in the figure of Elon Musk. His company SpaceX which had just come off the successful orbital launch of his Falcon 1 rocket in 2009 and Falcon 9 in 2010. Two fixed-price contracts were let to supply the ISS, with over 2 billion dollars going to ULA, Boeing and Lockheed, to feed the establishment, the other at the urging of Lori, to SpaceX at roughly half the amount to launch 12 missions to the ISS. In 2012 Musk was first to deliver supplies to the ISS. The fight to let private contractors deliver astronauts to the station was a more protracted and bitter battle. A huge portion of NASA’s budget went to NASA’s own Space Launch System, SLS. A relatively small part was reserved for a nascent Commercial Crew program to let private contractors bid on fixed price contracts to send supplies and crew to the ISS. As with the supply contract, the larger part of the contract was awarded to ULA, a smaller portion to SpaceX. As Garver explains: “The deal set a competition in motion between the government and the private sector, the dinosaurs, and the furry mammals. The mammals would compete among themselves and do so while surviving on the dinosaur’s scraps. I knew they would be successful. But I hoped it wouldn’t be on evolutionary time scales”. Her advocacy for SpaceX led to the deriding accusation within political circles and NASA that Elon Musk was her boy. She really picked the right boy. Since the award of the Crew program, SpaceX has delivered 20 supply missions to the ISS and 4 crews to the ISS. ULA so far has delivered no crewed missions. Since 2016 SpaceX has perfected the recovery and refurbishment of 1st stage rockets leading to a dramatic decrease in launch costs leading to today, SpaceX being the preeminent commercial and military launch service provider in the world.
By allocating a relatively minor portion of NASA’s budget to commercial space flight, a deputy administrator at NASA helped revolutionize the space launch business not only at NASA and the military but around the world. Meanwhile business as usual still proceeds at NASA. “A 2021 report estimates that the Artemis program will have cost the US taxpayers 96 billion through 2025, even though a landing on the Moon by then is not possible. NASA spent just twice that in comparison year dollars for the entire Apollo program. NASA’s Saturn V lunar rocket launched twelve missions, ten with crew, over 5 years. At best, the SLS will launch two to three times in five years. The Agency is ordering them through the decade and spending billions more on upgrades to take astronauts to Mars in the 2030’s. Thankfully, while the dinosaurs devour the last leaves on the high treetops, the furry mammals have continued to evolve.” As Garver points out almost the same capability that the SLS will provide is available right now with the Falcon 9 heavy rocket at a launch cost of 150 million.
As with the Military Industrial complex, The Space Industrial complex points to an innate tendency of bureaucracies to become as she called them: “Self-licking icecream cones”. Thankfully our system also produces reformers and disrupters, as in this case, Lori Garver and Elon Musk. Both books, Liftoff and Escaping Gravity, tell their story. JACK
August 31, 2022
3 1/2 I listened to the audiobook and I really wish authors would stop being the narrators.
This book just honestly made me angry. I knew the government is trash and just loves to spend money on themselves and for their own interests. How they keep on getting away with this crap is the most annoying. Also why is Bill the NASA administrator after all the crap he did previously and all these people need to retire.
Government contractors should have deadlines that when not met they are fined and not given more money.
I didn't particularly like the narrative style of this book. It seemed like a just going through a bunch of bullet points. I wish there was also more meat in the stories that were told and less blaming.
This book just honestly made me angry. I knew the government is trash and just loves to spend money on themselves and for their own interests. How they keep on getting away with this crap is the most annoying. Also why is Bill the NASA administrator after all the crap he did previously and all these people need to retire.
Government contractors should have deadlines that when not met they are fined and not given more money.
I didn't particularly like the narrative style of this book. It seemed like a just going through a bunch of bullet points. I wish there was also more meat in the stories that were told and less blaming.
October 24, 2022
When you feel you are being written out of the narrative, you have to defend your turf and perhaps in doing so, your legacy, and that is what Garver attempts here. Some of it is interesting reading, some superfluous descriptions, some starstruck name dropping, some carefully worded counterattack, but as a whole it is an enjoyable account of Garver's career. It is clear that NASA wastes as much money and resources (including scientific minds) as any other government agency, but perhaps with even less to show for it. If you delay the delivery of a project for long enough, everyone might basically forget about it and the billions of wasted dollars that were expended on a flight to nowhere (literally in this case). Our memories are short, to our detriment, but hope springs eternal and surely we will regain the Moon, and perhaps Mars, by 2025.... or 2030.... or .....
December 16, 2022
Without a doubt, my read of the year. Lori Garver does a great job at showing off the "inside baseball" of the space industry. The public would have much more informed attitudes toward space and the space industry if they had the context that comes from reading this book.
April 1, 2023
A well written history, though a bit more meandering and less focused than I'd prefer, about the Commercial Crew program, written by the lady who made it happen. Very engaging read, would strongly recommend to anyone interested in this point of space history.
August 26, 2023
Ms. Garver presents interesting perspectives on the political environment surrounding many of the decisions forming the basis of NASA's human spaceflight programs of the past several decades.
August 5, 2024
Former NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver has authored an intriguing behind-the-scenes look at her effort to take spaceflight in a new direction. At the time that she took the second most powerful position in the space agency, in 2009, the standard wisdom for many years had been that the Space Shuttle would be retired and then replaced by another vehicle owned and operated by the government. Yet in the face of much criticism, Garver decided to champion the idea of vehicles owned and operated by organizations in the private sector, for which the government would only serve as a customer. She devotes many pages to explaining why she believed a commercial crew program would benefit the nation, from safety to cost to schedule. Whereas the Space Shuttle had created many jobs for contractors across the country, those contractors were beholden to a government program plagued by cost overruns, delays, and two tragic accidents. She believed that giving organizations like SpaceX the latitude to exercise their own authority could be a better approach. She also makes a point of explaining the intense opposition she faced, from her NASA colleagues in Washington, DC to members of Congress to astronauts. Especially given that the beginning of the commercial crew program coincided with the cancellation of the Constellation program (a traditional government-oriented effort), critics expressed their dismay and some even called for Garver to resign. Another major theme of the book is the misogyny she believes she faced and that remained a major burden for NASA during her tenure. Yet because of the decision by President Barack Obama and Congress to support the commercial crew program that she championed, SpaceX and Boeing each received a contract worth billions of dollars to send astronauts into orbit in 2014. In 2020, she was watching as Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken soared off the launch pad in a SpaceX Dragon and her dreams reached fruition. Garver has been a controversial figure in the space community. But no matter what one's opinion of her, readers should value her book for providing an insider's view of how policy gets made, especially in an effort to shake up the status quo.
March 1, 2023
Wow- mixed feelings on this one.
In general, when Lori is describing and tackling the entrenched interests in NASA I am thinking "what a great public servant". The personal stories are frequently interesting and entertaining. Furthermore, many of her ideas for privatizing space are to be lauded. Also, as opposed to the more left wing, she has residual pride in America and comes off as moderately patriotic.
Then she will say something sexist or racist and it undercuts her authority.
Time and again she brings up social justice issues and emphasis her support of all democratic candidates. All her leanings are democratic talking points. This offensiveness is chronic and diminishes the enjoyment of a book that had a lot of good points. Because she grew up in an echo chamber, she does not realize the hypocrisy and bias of many of her statements.
Here were some issues:
-Some of her opponents regard her as a lightweight. Yet in the book she refers to the VASIMR engine as nuclear and the payload of some rockets in megatons. Both are wrong and are worrisome in a book where space is your career.
-She comes off as a gadfly with a martyr complex. She is rightfully insulted when she feels pushback but invariably blames either blue eyed male sexism, military industrial complex, good old boys, or obstructionist male thinking. She does not seem to realize that like Trump, she was an outsider pushing against an entrenched system and little of her pushback was because she was woman.
- As part of the martyr complex she implies that if not for sexism she might have been an engineer. (I should mention that my first aerospace teacher, right around the same time as Ms Garver was being held back -was a woman).
-She is insulted (rightfully) when encountering sexism, but has no problem insulting men and discriminating in favor of woman or minorities. She literally says that color and sex should triumph over competence when the scores are close. How insulting is this? In one situation she is offended when the African American NASA administrator does not push harder for more woman and minorities. Perhaps he was just less racist and sexist than her? Since her two sons are male, and she alleges she might have been an engineer if not for sexism, and her husband is some sort of engineer, you would think her two sons would be well on their way to becoming successful white male engineers. She does not say what her second son becomes but in a conversation with Elon Musk one son says he is majoring in Music Composition!
- Related to this, there is little sense of gratitude. She is offended by the "cup boys" and their blue-eyed male fraternity. In one example, she is offended by a couple of ex-marines. Well those marines died in tens of thousands over the decades so that Ms Garver could have a nice safe up bringing with her stockbroker dad and stay at home mom and go to college and become sexist and racist.
- Back to her sexism- while rightly offended by discrimination she seems oblivious to the reality that she is probably in her position because she is a woman. Like Kamela Harris, she likely did not get into her position based on talent. She should be offended by this sort of sexism but it never crosses her mind. This morning, as I am writing this, there two garbagemen picking up my trash. I don't see her lobbying for female garbage collectors. An article in Air Force Association magazine last year that discussed discrimination mentioned that woman were OVER-REPRESENTED in the higher ranks. I don't see Lori lobbying for more men. The fact that 75% of liberal arts college attendees are woman does not come up. Some discrimination is OK with Lori.
- Because of her oversensitivity to race and sex, she sees everything through this lense. I am reminded of a story of one of my favorite authors, Saul Bellow. I don't remember where I read this but it went along the lines of if Saul Bellow met the Queen of England for a nice talk, he would come away saying she was a nice woman... and also an antisemite. Lori is like that. I remember thinking that if some of the things that happened to me in my career (including threats of violence) she would blame it on demeaning of woman. I didn't have that excuse. Three weeks ago an opinion piece was written in the WSJ called "Disparity Does not Imply Racism". She needs to read some more contrarian opinions like this.
- She is insulting and dismissive of non-democratic talking points. While correctly leery of the military industrial complex, hypocritically she does not seem to have any issues with the hundreds of billions being spent on green energy. This just shows her biases. I can write a whole book on this particular taxpayer funded scam.
- In one bizarre story on page 59 she refers to some study that blamed climate change opposition on the right wing idealogues. Meanwhile she never mentions fellow NSS member, and Mars Society founder and author Robert Zubrin who has a lot of criticism of the environmental movement. You would think she would refer to his book "The Prophets of Despair" as a counterpoint. She does not since it might undercut her arguments. She never even brings up Zubrin at all which I thought odd- unless Ms Garver does not want to have her worldview challenged.
- In one section (pg 83-84) Mike Griffin is called a "real nut job" by John Podesta. The proof of this statement is shown as a quote from an NPR interview. I have read this paragraph trying to see what was crazy about his statement- and I just don't see it. It was a reasonable and accurate statement. This character assassination by John Podesta was wrong.
-She mentions the wording of a leftish advocacy group "Public Citizen" tweet of that refers to the Jan 6 protest as fascist, but Lori actually went out and supported the even more disgusting BLM protests which has led to far more deaths and destruction than Jan 6. She does not refer to this movement as fundamentally communist and racist, but proudly joined in the protest!
In the end I look at Lori Garver as a Trump analogue. She is an outsider who brought new and fresh ideas to a stale organization. Like Trump she received a lot of pushback because she was opposing the status quo. Her basic ideas, like pushing for a streamlined privatized NASA launch program were excellent ideas. She needed to shake things up. However, like Trump, she was a flawed messenger and lacks intellectual rigor.
Finally- I appreciate her support of these private billionaires which runs counter to a lot of left wing ideology. If it were not for people like Musk the US would no longer have a viable space program (or electric cars for that matter). Bravo for her. Bravo for Musk.
In general, when Lori is describing and tackling the entrenched interests in NASA I am thinking "what a great public servant". The personal stories are frequently interesting and entertaining. Furthermore, many of her ideas for privatizing space are to be lauded. Also, as opposed to the more left wing, she has residual pride in America and comes off as moderately patriotic.
Then she will say something sexist or racist and it undercuts her authority.
Time and again she brings up social justice issues and emphasis her support of all democratic candidates. All her leanings are democratic talking points. This offensiveness is chronic and diminishes the enjoyment of a book that had a lot of good points. Because she grew up in an echo chamber, she does not realize the hypocrisy and bias of many of her statements.
Here were some issues:
-Some of her opponents regard her as a lightweight. Yet in the book she refers to the VASIMR engine as nuclear and the payload of some rockets in megatons. Both are wrong and are worrisome in a book where space is your career.
-She comes off as a gadfly with a martyr complex. She is rightfully insulted when she feels pushback but invariably blames either blue eyed male sexism, military industrial complex, good old boys, or obstructionist male thinking. She does not seem to realize that like Trump, she was an outsider pushing against an entrenched system and little of her pushback was because she was woman.
- As part of the martyr complex she implies that if not for sexism she might have been an engineer. (I should mention that my first aerospace teacher, right around the same time as Ms Garver was being held back -was a woman).
-She is insulted (rightfully) when encountering sexism, but has no problem insulting men and discriminating in favor of woman or minorities. She literally says that color and sex should triumph over competence when the scores are close. How insulting is this? In one situation she is offended when the African American NASA administrator does not push harder for more woman and minorities. Perhaps he was just less racist and sexist than her? Since her two sons are male, and she alleges she might have been an engineer if not for sexism, and her husband is some sort of engineer, you would think her two sons would be well on their way to becoming successful white male engineers. She does not say what her second son becomes but in a conversation with Elon Musk one son says he is majoring in Music Composition!
- Related to this, there is little sense of gratitude. She is offended by the "cup boys" and their blue-eyed male fraternity. In one example, she is offended by a couple of ex-marines. Well those marines died in tens of thousands over the decades so that Ms Garver could have a nice safe up bringing with her stockbroker dad and stay at home mom and go to college and become sexist and racist.
- Back to her sexism- while rightly offended by discrimination she seems oblivious to the reality that she is probably in her position because she is a woman. Like Kamela Harris, she likely did not get into her position based on talent. She should be offended by this sort of sexism but it never crosses her mind. This morning, as I am writing this, there two garbagemen picking up my trash. I don't see her lobbying for female garbage collectors. An article in Air Force Association magazine last year that discussed discrimination mentioned that woman were OVER-REPRESENTED in the higher ranks. I don't see Lori lobbying for more men. The fact that 75% of liberal arts college attendees are woman does not come up. Some discrimination is OK with Lori.
- Because of her oversensitivity to race and sex, she sees everything through this lense. I am reminded of a story of one of my favorite authors, Saul Bellow. I don't remember where I read this but it went along the lines of if Saul Bellow met the Queen of England for a nice talk, he would come away saying she was a nice woman... and also an antisemite. Lori is like that. I remember thinking that if some of the things that happened to me in my career (including threats of violence) she would blame it on demeaning of woman. I didn't have that excuse. Three weeks ago an opinion piece was written in the WSJ called "Disparity Does not Imply Racism". She needs to read some more contrarian opinions like this.
- She is insulting and dismissive of non-democratic talking points. While correctly leery of the military industrial complex, hypocritically she does not seem to have any issues with the hundreds of billions being spent on green energy. This just shows her biases. I can write a whole book on this particular taxpayer funded scam.
- In one bizarre story on page 59 she refers to some study that blamed climate change opposition on the right wing idealogues. Meanwhile she never mentions fellow NSS member, and Mars Society founder and author Robert Zubrin who has a lot of criticism of the environmental movement. You would think she would refer to his book "The Prophets of Despair" as a counterpoint. She does not since it might undercut her arguments. She never even brings up Zubrin at all which I thought odd- unless Ms Garver does not want to have her worldview challenged.
- In one section (pg 83-84) Mike Griffin is called a "real nut job" by John Podesta. The proof of this statement is shown as a quote from an NPR interview. I have read this paragraph trying to see what was crazy about his statement- and I just don't see it. It was a reasonable and accurate statement. This character assassination by John Podesta was wrong.
-She mentions the wording of a leftish advocacy group "Public Citizen" tweet of that refers to the Jan 6 protest as fascist, but Lori actually went out and supported the even more disgusting BLM protests which has led to far more deaths and destruction than Jan 6. She does not refer to this movement as fundamentally communist and racist, but proudly joined in the protest!
In the end I look at Lori Garver as a Trump analogue. She is an outsider who brought new and fresh ideas to a stale organization. Like Trump she received a lot of pushback because she was opposing the status quo. Her basic ideas, like pushing for a streamlined privatized NASA launch program were excellent ideas. She needed to shake things up. However, like Trump, she was a flawed messenger and lacks intellectual rigor.
Finally- I appreciate her support of these private billionaires which runs counter to a lot of left wing ideology. If it were not for people like Musk the US would no longer have a viable space program (or electric cars for that matter). Bravo for her. Bravo for Musk.
November 30, 2022
A memoir by the Deputy Director of NASA under President Obama, who was a key player in pushing the current commercial spaceflight era. Previously, companies were contracted to build rockets for NASA using cost plus contracts. NASA then operated and launched the rockets. The cost overruns were tremendous. This initiative had NASA solicit bids for launch services within certain requiremens, and then the contracted company designed, built and handled vehicle prep and launch services. These were often done on comptitive, fixed cost contracts. This has lead to vastly cheaper launch services that saves NASA money for other priorities like building space probes and letting NASA focus on more deep space initiatives.
Shows how entrenched bureaucracy at NASA, along with an unhealth rotation of personnel between NASA and industry almost stifled the commercial crew program.
Also an interesting human interest story of a woman dealing with an institution still heavily populated by men, especially in the era she started with the agency.
Highly recommend.
Shows how entrenched bureaucracy at NASA, along with an unhealth rotation of personnel between NASA and industry almost stifled the commercial crew program.
Also an interesting human interest story of a woman dealing with an institution still heavily populated by men, especially in the era she started with the agency.
Highly recommend.
August 21, 2023
After reading Ashlee Vance's "When the Heavens Went on Sale", I expected this to be more of a book about the same companies and same New Space developments, but from the government angle.
Instead, I got a much longer history of Garver's involvement in space policy stretching beyond the Challenger disaster. To the extent New Space is a theme in this book, it's mainly focused on SpaceX, with Blue Origin following a close second. (The hero of Vance's book, Gen. Pete Worden is mentioned ONCE.)
And you know what? That's fine. SpaceX has been the big driver in changing American space policy, and Garver's account really highlights what an uphill battle that was within NASA. Much of the book describes her bucking the prevailing attitudes at NASA (though she is quick to justify that as an allegiance to the President over the NASA administrator), and succeeding in some cases, and losing in a lot.
In the end, I got a different book than the one I expected, but it was quite interesting nonetheless.
December 22, 2024
Lori Garver is an integral piece of the movement within NASA to shake the long failing cost+ defense contractor approach to a sustainable commercially led approach. Despite what her detractors say, this wasn’t out of bias or preference but an attempt to save NASA from the fundamentally flawed system that gave us the now extremely delayed and over budget SLS.
This book is a memoir, not a monograph or an official history and it reads as such, still, this is essential reading to understand the world of spaceflight we live in today.
I enjoyed the often loose tone and honest style of writing that doesn’t mince words, it’s her story told through her eyes.
She is a lifelong Democrat who reaches across the aisle to support NASA when needed, meaning she draws fire from all sides.
Ultimately, Garver’s story is one of life long struggle against an establishment in spaceflight, often sharing parallels with fights in gender norms as well. Her persistence resulted monumental change at perhaps the most unchanging agency within the federal government.
This book is a memoir, not a monograph or an official history and it reads as such, still, this is essential reading to understand the world of spaceflight we live in today.
I enjoyed the often loose tone and honest style of writing that doesn’t mince words, it’s her story told through her eyes.
She is a lifelong Democrat who reaches across the aisle to support NASA when needed, meaning she draws fire from all sides.
Ultimately, Garver’s story is one of life long struggle against an establishment in spaceflight, often sharing parallels with fights in gender norms as well. Her persistence resulted monumental change at perhaps the most unchanging agency within the federal government.
October 16, 2022
Lori Garver lends and interesting perspective about the politics and policy that go into decisions at NASA. I agree with her conviction that space exploration lends purpose to society - that helps inspire innovation and unity.
In chapter 1w she describes why there is minimal detailed reporting on key decisions related to NASA funding and programming. This becomes obvious when you compare the reporting of SLS today, to a more detailed deep dive into how we got here.
Policy decisions related to NASA and other space agencies internationally, result in very different outcomes over the course of years and decades - and should be much more clearly outlined to people.
The commercial crew program and resulting competition have clearly inspired a new flame from old embers. My hope is that we will maintain a competitive industry related to orbital launch technology and NASA can focus on the furthest frontiers of scientific and engineering knowledge.
In chapter 1w she describes why there is minimal detailed reporting on key decisions related to NASA funding and programming. This becomes obvious when you compare the reporting of SLS today, to a more detailed deep dive into how we got here.
Policy decisions related to NASA and other space agencies internationally, result in very different outcomes over the course of years and decades - and should be much more clearly outlined to people.
The commercial crew program and resulting competition have clearly inspired a new flame from old embers. My hope is that we will maintain a competitive industry related to orbital launch technology and NASA can focus on the furthest frontiers of scientific and engineering knowledge.
September 5, 2022
As someone who worked at an aerospace contractor of the space shuttle during the Challenger disaster I was stunned to hear how well Ms. Garver managed to explain how someone could be a champion of NASA but not be bewitched. As she points out they were good at proving what is possible. That is a huge accomplishment or I could say one big step! However, she is masterful in how she points to the flaws in assuming the guys who were the heroes who got us the moon had the only answers. They couldn't answer the simplest question:
Why haven't we gone any farter why manned spaceflight? Why are spacecraft incapable of repeatable use without major refurbishment after every mission? She puts much more clearly!
Why haven't we gone any farter why manned spaceflight? Why are spacecraft incapable of repeatable use without major refurbishment after every mission? She puts much more clearly!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 29, 2022
It was a good informative memoir book and also a sad self-reflection book at the same time. An excellent description of what goes on behind the scenes in a public federal agency, especially NASA, which the public is more aware of due, to the 1960 space race with the Russians. However, I dont think she describes her opposition's arguments well enough to go commercial as much as her explanation to go commercial. These are sole source business companies. Profit oriented. They could stop doing this at the whim of one person. Right now we are not dependent, but I see it will eventually happen. It was sad to read that the author felt not as successful as she hoped, even though her efforts were eventually successful. Good read though if you like NASA.
March 10, 2024
Lori Garver says this is not an academic analysis of the time she worked in space, rather a memoir. But the problem is that normally with a memoir you see something resembling growth or change for your narrator. This book is just page after page about how Garver was right about everything. By describing it as a memoir she exempts herself from introducing balance but her blind spots about the behaviour of people she likes are staggering, while those whom she doesn’t like can expect forensic disassembly. What a dismal reflection on a career that should have been important to women and innovators everywhere.
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